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Sex in Sci-Fi Ch. 01

By: TonyDowse



THE HISTORY OF SEX IN SPACE

Looking back, it is strange to realise just how long man - and woman of course, had to wait for the first member (no pun intended) of the '100 Mile High Club'. Not that the sex act had to be performed at that specific altitude - the title was merely the natural extension of the much older 'Mile High Club', which no doubt by now has tens of thousands of members. The '100' merely indicated sex in a weightless environment.

But then humanity's early, faltering steps in space had not really been conducive to acts of either lust or love - or even bravado! First a dog. Then a man. Then a chimpanzee or two - flying solo, unfortunately for them - then, later men, at first also flying solo.

It was quite some time before the first men went as a group - and though there has been much subsequent discussion regarding some of the individuals included it does, on balance seem unlikely that any of them would have joined even one of the affiliated branches of the club.

Then, a nominal woman was included in a group of men - a chance, maybe. But then, not really - TV coverage almost every foot of the way and the general lack of privacy would have meant either group membership, or nothing.

But of course there was 'sex' in space - lots of it!

Bacteria, flies, especially fruit flies, ants, bees - a whole menagerie of life was shot up there - and given only one command - 'Go forth and multiply!' And they did, enthusiastically - neither knowing nor caring that the reason for all their activity was just so that the results of their multiplications could be studied, analysed, computed and extrapolated.

The first all-woman team to go up caused quite a media sensation at the time - but nobody ever accused any of them of even wanting to join their branch of the club.

There were rumours but unfortunately no substantiation about the second Mars expedition. All the members of the crew, five males and three females, were married - but strangely, none of them to each other! It may well be that there were some unheralded, unclaimed memberships on that flight but for the record, no divorces, not even a separation has ever been attributed to that expedition.

It was in fact nearly sixty years and a few months after the first man went into space, that the first group tourist flight took place. The early trips were really glorified inter-continental, aircraft flights - but they did go fast enough and high enough to technically classify the passengers as having been in 'space' - so the opportunity for membership was there. But it would have been a bit tricky since everyone was tightly strapped down, from start to finish - perhaps to the disappointment of some.

In actual fact, the first recorded attempt at membership was not until the early, manned settlement of the Moon. A married couple - Mr. and Mrs. Fred Honeywell of Meade Ka. were amongst the twenty-six crew. Unfortunately neither of them were physicists, he being a geologist and Mrs. Honeywell a metallurgist - so perhaps their ignorance of Newton's Laws can be excused. However, after nearly fifty years of space-flight it seems remarkable that they were not aware that - 'For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.'!

The records show that their attempt was unsuccessful but that Mr. Honeywell's initial effort was so enthusiastic that when his wife struck the bulkhead she suffered a fractured arm and mild concussion. Mr. Honeywell's injuries were limited to a badly strained back and a severe case of embarrassment.

However, the attempt and the resulting publicity caused a sudden flurry of activity. The first successful attempt recorded was in fact between two other members of the same crew - John Smith and Mary Brown, as they apparently wished to be known, who coupled in what can best be described as a broom cupboard, adjacent to the galley. Witnesses were present, outside the cupboard and the celebratory party was attended by the entire crew - with the exception of Mr. and Mrs. Honeywell.

It was not until the invention of the device that became known as "Grindley's Girdle", that less uncomfortable opportunities for membership of the club were possible.

The Girdle, or 'Love-Seat' as its inventor (George Grindley, Huddersfield, U.K.) preferred it to be called, was an ingenious device. Some said it was based on an early Victorian corselet - Mr. Grindley, whose great-grandfather was in fact a manufacturer of ladies' under-garments, strenuously denied this. It was comprised of several layers of elasticised straps, bonded in such a way that, under thrust-pressure, some stretched and others did not.

It was of course necessary for both partners to get into the Girdle or 'Love-Seat, which, as it took experienced users some eight to ten minutes to fit - and considerably longer for first-timers - removed some spontaneity from the act itself.

The design and elasticised parts allowed one partner to thrust, whilst the other was held in place. There were also straps with a variety of clips attached that enabled the article to be fixed to hooks, handles, pieces of equipment, etc. to hold the wearers in place.

It was important of course to ensure that the contrivance was put on the right way round, severe bruising could - and frequently did result when it wasn't.

In spite of its apparent drawbacks the Girdle and innumerable variations of it were popular for the next ten to fifteen years and there are still many examples in existence, if not in use.

The Japanese were of course responsible for the next development in aiding membership of the club. The Sissui Gravity Belt was an instant hit with space-workers everywhere, enabling instant coupling, with a minimum of fuss.

A simple belt was slipped around the waist of each partner, attached to the belt was a small, battery operated power source and embedded in the belts were a series of super-conducting wires. At the touch of a button the two wearers were literally attracted to each other. An augmented polarity reversal also meant that on activation the couple were suspended, equidistant from all surrounding metallic surfaces. Truly, sex in space.

Care was of course needed in selecting a suitable site for the act, since if not all surrounding surfaces were metal the couple would be whisked to a point that was equidistant from whatever was. Several early fatalities occurred after the introduction of a plastic, treated to appear like metal, which was used in the construction of some habitats during the colonisation of Mars. It is believed that as many as four couples still orbit somewhere between Mars and the Asteroid Belt.

While Sissui and its numerous variations have remained popular to this day, the latest advances in technology promise to swell the ranks of club members to massive proportions.

Developed originally as a low cost mass-driver, the 'High Flyer' is fast becoming the most popular feature in virtually all Fun Parks. With energy now virtually free and by using complex aerodynamics, based in fact on the Aboriginal boomerang, the 'High Flyer' provides children - and in rapidly increasing numbers, adults too - with a half hour in space for the cost of a meal in a VendoMart.

As each capsule takes only two people and the flight follows a pre-determined path, the occupants have only the view to watch or each other to please for up to thirty minutes, in an admittedly confined (approximately the same as that in what was known as the 'back-seat' of a now archaic form of ground transport) but undoubtedly quite comfortable space, in space. 

Sex in Sci-Fi Ch. 02



CHAPTER 2: THE LOVE MACHINE

I had the dubious honour of testing the prototype of the machine, in its true environment that is, in space.

There had of course already been hundreds of official tests - and maybe a similar number of unofficial ones too - done before mine, so I knew the thing was safe, at least technically. The experts assured me that it wasn't going to grind important bits of me into smaller parts or anything like that, which was comforting of course.

The concept of the thing had been around for years and the need for it for thousands. From the moment man or woman left the comfort of their partner, to head off into far places, there had been a need. In historical times that need had been satisfied by a bit of raping and pillaging here and there as they went - that's bit hard to do when you are several light years from home in the totally empty reaches between stars. So these days we have people, many of them travelling solo, starved of human contact, love and affection - and sex - for weeks, months, sometimes years.

It's a problem even on the larger ships and has been since day one, they've tried every combination they could think of. When the problem was first officially recognised - and that took a hell of a while I can tell you - they started crewing the long distance trips with married couples. The ensuing divorce rate soon brought that to a halt. Then mixed singles, that always resulted in either physical brawling or poisonous relationships as several crew members decided they wanted the same person. They even tried both homosexual and lesbian crews - same results, only even more dramatic.

So what did they do about it? Typically, nothing - for quite some time. They had already tried stocking the ships' libraries with porno holo-pix tapes but most people already had their own and the government issue was, as you'd expect, mainly cheap rubbish. So we just got used to it, nerves were stretched, tempers flared, efficiency went down - and the officials wrung their hands and blamed the poor quality of the crews.

Then someone had the bright idea of the machine, I can't imagine how long it took to persuade officialdom to come up with research money for a project like that - but once under way, as things do in government, it sort of took on a life of its own. But all very hush-hush of course, top secret, couldn't have the voters thinking that their taxes were being spent on mechanising sexual pleasure.

Once I was picked for the trial run I got to see some of the early concepts, they were laughable really, someone should put them in a museum somewhere. There were a whole range of what were essentially inflatables, some sophisticated gadgetry inside them of course and some of them were really life-like to look at, especially from a distance. Then there were a range of mechanical devices, some that didn't need the user to make any effort, others that looked as though you'd need to be a mechanical engineer to get them working. All in all a pretty sorry looking range of things.

Finally some electronics whiz-kid came up with a concept that sent them off in a completely different direction, the basic idea was quite simple, getting the various components to function and then pull them all together was what took the time - and money.

Essentially the idea was to use a combination of chemistry and electronics to create an illusion and at the same time to stimulate brain waves and muscle responses to achieve the physical result. In the kid's mind he saw the user simply having to choose various options from a computer menu then lying back and enjoying the result. A sort of 'Dial a Dream' machine, a simple idea - but complex to develop.

Anyway they kept working at it and advances in technology and physiology came up with new bits of information every now and then and, little by little, after some early, fairly disastrous failures, they began to get there.

I've no idea how they selected me for the first, non-technical trial. I'm well known as a loner, have a pretty impressive flight record I suppose and have certainly been in more than my fair share of scrapes - and kept both my ship and myself in one piece. Maybe that was why my name popped out of the list search.

At first I wasn't having any of it, when they asked if I'd be willing to participate in an in-flight experiment I just shook my head. 'There are more than enough problems out there without taking someone else's with you.' I said. But then they invited me down to where they had been developing and building the thing, told me more about it, let me see the records of the tests they had been running - and of course gave me the line about 'my place in history, playing my part in relieving the stresses of inter-stellar travel, industry and peer group appreciation, etc., etc.'.

After all that it seemed easier to go along with them than to try to argue. They took charge of my ship for a couple of days while they fitted out the space for the equipment - and did a whole lot of re-wiring and software upgrading for me at the same time, so I figured that if nothing else I was at least already in front financially.

While they were doing that I was given a short course on the operation of the thing and, as future users would be working from just what information their screens gave them, they wanted me to check-out that their program was user-friendly. It was certainly that!

As I was never alone with the thing there was no way I was going to actually use it - I mean physically, I've never really liked group-sex that much and I certainly wasn't going to put on a show for them. But if the real thing was even half as good as the menu choices made it seem I reckoned they had a winner.

Then of course we had to thoroughly test the ship-board installation, make sure everything was right and that their work hadn't interfered with the ship's other functions, that took another day or so but finally everything checked out just fine.

As luck would have it the next trip was a real lulu, a straight run out, four weeks for that, a fast turn-around and then straight home again. You don't get them as clean as that too often! The first week is always fine, there's so much work to do that you really don't notice the time, especially flying single-handed as I do. Just getting out through the permanent, solar system traffic jams takes most of it, taking care of all the reports and records that have to be filed - that we still call 'paper-work' for some reason - takes another chunk and then getting everything set for the hyper-jump takes a bit too.

Once all that's done and you are actually under way there's really not a great deal that has to be done. We all have our interests of course, you'd go stark raving mad if you didn't have something to occupy the time - mine's history, so I do a lot of reading and library searching much of the time. But in spite of that, sometime during the second week, no matter how busy you try and keep yourself you find that the hormones have started to play up, letting you know you are still a human being.

I looked at the equipment a few times of course and was tempted to give it a go. 'Just to make sure it was working all right. I've agreed to do it, so I should.' I told myself. But it was in fact early in week three before I finally did and at first it was more out of sheer curiosity than because of any mad, physical need. But I admit that once I'd called up the menu screen and began to read the options, I was hooked - and found myself starting to get an erection from just thinking about the various choices I was being given.

The menus were sub-divided; so as you decided things such as, the sex of your partner, their race, build and appearance, each had a sub-list of more detailed options to choose from - even down to things such as hairstyle, clothes and underclothes, or lack of. I chose a cute little red-head, with big green eyes, a turned up nose and a full-lipped, smiling mouth - and spent quite some time considering and selecting the other parts of her body.

I could also select just what I wanted to happen - or more accurately of course - that would appear to be happening, between us. Again the choices were extensive and if I had a twinge of doubt, about pre-planning in such detail what would, under normal circumstances happen according to the whim of the partners, when I thought a bit more about it I realised that most of us in fact fantasise about what we would like - and in real life very rarely get it. So I put together a sequence that I had often found myself thinking about, then stripped off, slipped on the connectors, settled down on my bunk and pressed the start button.

First there was music, music and perfume. I knew from the briefings I'd had that the scent included pheromones, chemicals that, once inhaled began to work in very subtle ways on my body's physiology. The main lights dimmed and softer, tinted lights came into play just as she appeared at the foot of my bunk. I use holo-pix all day and during my introduction to the system I'd seen a wide range of women on the screens - but this was totally different.

For starters it was of course a projection, not screen-based, it was life-size and it was several leaps ahead of projected holos I'd ever seen before. So far as anything my eyes could tell me, she was solid, she was real - and she was there, for me!

For a time she just stood there, swaying slowly in time with the music as she looked into my eyes and then a shy smile formed as they shifted and she looked over the rest of me.

Shining, reddish hair fell down to her shoulders, making her white skin appear even whiter. I had selected breasts for her that were just slightly larger than average but firm and uptilted and although I had dressed her in a short, tunic-like garment, as her eyes continued to roam over my body I could see where the nipples poked the fabric as their tips stiffened. For her height, which was on the shortish side, her legs were long and slender, with nicely rounded thighs, which I could appreciate because I had chosen an outfit that stopped a short way below the level of her sex.

She moved out from where she stood and came up beside me, her eyes flicked back up to look deep into mine again, then she spoke, her voice low and with a faint huskiness.

'Bart - it is Bart isn't it?' I smiled back at her and nodded. 'I'm Paula - but then you know that of course. What's a great looking guy like you doing out here, all alone? Or is there another lady hiding somewhere nearby?' I shook my head. 'I don't know how you do it, alone like this, so far out here - I don't mind telling you the thought of what's outside the ship really scares me. But you're not scared, I can see that and I like men like that, men with that kind of strength of mind, men who are used to controlling any kind of situation - and people too probably. I like a man who can control me, be firm with me. In fact.' she paused for a moment then, as I felt her rest one hand on my thigh, she added with a grin. 'I like men who are not just firm - but really hard - as I'm sure you'll soon be.

You'll make me forget all about the scary space outside, won't you?'

To be honest, as I began to react to the combination of the chemicals, her nearness and the gentle pressure of her hand on my thigh I was forgetting all about it myself. That was the strangest time - later, when fully aroused my brain followed my body and the way it reacted to what she did to it, accepting her as real. But right then one part of it, the intellect I guess, knew she was just the result of some extraordinarily complex chemistry and electronics, while the other part, in the lower levels, simply reacted to the deep-seated responses being aroused.

I knew that if I just lay still she would, by following a series of program sub-routines, do everything herself and I remember that at that stage I still had enough control to wonder just what series of commands those programs contained.

But I was never to find out!

Her eyes continued to stare down into mine as her hand progressed slowly up along my thigh, curling her fingers over it and letting them trail up along the inside, heading straight for my balls and quickly stiffening cock. She licked her lips with the tip of her tongue as her eyes dropped to look at the effect she was having on me, then took a couple of steps backwards and said.

'I think it's about time I got out of some of these things, don't you Bart?' I could feel my level of arousal and need rising rapidly and the prickle of perspiration breaking out on my face and again I just nodded. I had also chosen a flimsy, pale green bra and pantie set for her to wear and as she lifted the tunic straight up over her head I was treated to my first look at it and her body - and felt my cock jerk several notches higher as a result - and spoke to her for the first time.

'You're beautiful Paula. Even more beautiful than I expected.'

She grinned back at me. 'Thank you. I'm glad you like me. Should I take these pretty things off too?' She asked as her fingers played with the tiny straps of her bra.'

'I think so.'

'Good!' And with a few deft movements she was as naked as I was.

Her breasts were even more luscious than I had expected them to be, their upswept curves tipped with dusky pink nipples that I could then see were already stiffly swollen. Below, at the apex of her thighs, a light bush of hair, precisely matching the tone and shade of that on her head and trimmed to a neat triangle, that seemed to point the way to her sex.

As my eyes roamed over her I felt my cock responding, pulsing strongly and when I glanced down I saw it rearing up, fully engorged, quivering, its bloated head a dark glossy red. I looked back up at Paula and saw that she was also staring at it, wide-eyed, her tongue again moistening her lips. She dragged her eyes away from it and looked back up into mine.

'That's superb Bart!' she whispered hoarsely. 'I can hardly wait to feel it way up inside me - but, before that, I want to do something - something for you. I want to make you feel, good - no, not just good but much better than you've felt for a long, long time.'

She turned and went to the bottom of the bunk and as she did that I got my first look at her bottom, tight, nicely rounded cheeks that waggled temptingly as she moved. Her hands moved my legs wider apart and then she got up with me and crawled up between them to kneel between my thighs, her soft, warm skin sending tingles through me as our bodies touched, the smell of her perfume getting stronger as she settled herself. Her eyes flicked from mine, down to my cock and back up again and a mischievous smile appeared at the corner of her mouth as she slid one hand beneath, to cup and gently fondle my balls and she curled the fingers of the other around the hard mass of the shaft.

Then, after a final lick of her lips, she lowered her head and as I felt strands of her hair tickling my belly, her lips slipped down over the tightly swollen head of my cock and her tongue lapped over it and around the deep groove behind it. The sensations were incredible!

She pushed the loose folds of skin down, then gripped her fingers tightly around the base of my shaft and began to bob her head up and down, at first just short little movements, so her lips only skimmed over the head. As my moans of pleasure grew stronger and I began to try to thrust up into her mouth she gradually allowed more and more of it inside - until, after a while she was taking the entire length of me and I could feel my cock-head nudging against the back of her throat.

What with that and the way her other hand was more firmly squeezing my tightly swollen balls, it was no time at all before I felt the rising surge building inside me and I began to thrust more powerfully up into her mouth, my groans of quickly rising pleasure getting even louder.

She took it, took it all - the first jets searing her throat, her mouth sucking the rest from me in less explosive but equally frenzied spasms. Only lifting her head from me when she quite sure that I had no more to give her. She grinned happily up at me, traces of my creamy semen caught in the corners of her mouth. 'That was good wasn't it?'

'Fantastic Paula, simply fantastic!'

'I could tell that. You came so strongly - and there was so much of it. You must have been feeling really frustrated before - saving it up for days. For me?'

'For you Paula, just for you.'

'I like that, it makes me feel good - even better than I felt as I did it for you - and I loved the feelings I got from that. It made me really hot for you too, really sexy, my pussy's terribly swollen and very wet, it's going to need something very big and strong inside it - soon I hope!'

While she was speaking her fingers continued to play with me and whether it was that, the memory of the intensity of the thrills she had just given me, or simply my body's chemistry reacting to her perfume I neither knew nor cared - all I knew was that my cock, which had only just erupted so powerfully, was already getting hard again!

'Aaah!' she sighed as she felt it rising between her slender fingers. 'I knew you wouldn't disappoint me Bart. That feels lovely. So strong, getting so big, so hard. Just what I need!'

With that she got up and moved forward, her feet straddling my hips and while she held herself open with one hand she used the other to guide my semi-erect cock inside her pussy, lowering herself down on to it until her arse-cheeks were resting lightly on my thighs, her darkly tipped breasts swaying tantalisingly above me.

'Aaah yes! That's starting to feel better already.' she said and I saw that as she felt her own need rising her eyes had grown darker, slightly clouded. Having got me inside she began to move up and down, slowly at first, quite serenely - but while her moist, outer lips slipped easily over the stiffening length of me, at the same time I felt her inner lips contracting around it, lightly squeezing me, arousing me more strongly. As she felt my reaction I saw her smile tighten, her eyes darken even more and her movements began to gradually get more urgent, more demanding.

But, even though I could tell from the increased speed and energy of her bouncing that she was close to her own climax she somehow managed to hold it back, waiting for me to catch up with her. And although I thought she had only just totally drained me, after a few minutes of that mind-blowing ride I felt another load building inside me and then, all too soon, it fountained up through my cock and blasted deep into the heart of her sex.

She finally let go when she felt the first of it spouting into her, crying out with pleasure as she rammed herself down harder, faster - pumping more and still more semen up from some reservoir deep inside me, utterly draining me.

I've no idea how long she lay on top of me, her gorgeous body hot and sweaty from what we had done together - or when she actually disappeared and I fell into a deep, totally exhausted sleep.

When I woke I needed food, food and drink, to replenish the energy I had used up - and to give me enough to call her up and start all over again with her!

During the next few days I had more sex than I would normally have in a couple of months at a leisure resort. Sex with Paula again, several times - sex with a variety of other girls - black, green, yellow, pink girls - tall, short girls - busty, slim girls - anally, orally and in one or two places I'd never even thought of before. Every time was different, yet every time was just as fantastic and just as draining.

Even though the purifying system worked flat-out the ship began to smell like a brothel and the chores began to pile up - whatever wasn't absolutely essential to the running of the ship was left for another time - and each time I thought of tackling something, the lure of the Love Machine called more strongly.




Sex in Sci-Fi Ch. 02



But when I was a couple of days out from port I managed to pull myself together enough to return the place to something like its normal order, make contact with the Nav. base and alert my contacts to my arrival time. I ignored the odd looks I got when I finally docked, I knew I'd lost a bit of weight and looked even more gaunt than my records picture me. I didn't care what anyone thought, I just wanted the fastest possible turn-around so that I could be off again - back off into space, back off to where I could get back into the arms of the infinite variety of girls that were waiting for me - panting for me - hungry for me!

They had to bring the ship in on the emergency auto system. All sorts of people had been trying to reach me during the return trip, including the guys from the department in charge of the development of the machine, who wanted an interim report on it before I actually landed. They were disappointed - I was damn nearly dead!

But the fact that they couldn't get through to me alerted them to the fact that something was wrong and they set up a very discrete emergency, so there was none of the usual media hype that always gets cranked up whenever a ship's thought to be in some kind of trouble. Apparently only half a dozen people knew I was coming in and they didn't even tell the medics what had caused my condition.

I was in hospital for a couple of weeks - they fed me intravenously for the first few days, pumping back into my body all sorts of things I had exhausted during the almost non-stop sex I'd had during the return trip. The Doc told me later that another week of whatever I had been experiencing and they would have had a dead body to haul off the ship.

So that's how the present-day equipment came about, they built-in a lot of modifications, cut back on what they called the 'realism factor', put in some kind of governor and restricted individual's use of it by a personal metering system.

Sure the crews love it - it's great, even with all the limiters they've added it does a fantastic job. But what I want to know and what I'd give a year's credits to find out is where that original prototype is being stored. 



Sex in Sci-Fi Ch. 03



Chapter 1

Seltire

Mierka and I had gone to Seltire for a rest - she from the research laboratory where she spent most of her time analysing vegetation from various parts of the galaxy, myself from the agency that spurred on the consumer boom that helped to pay for the exploration. Other than an occasional two or three days, neither of us had been able to get off at the same time as the other for a couple of years and both our work and our relationship were beginning to suffer as a result.

We had chosen Seltire because it was off the beaten track and yet reasonably priced, having its main resort complex set in the middle of an archipelago of islands that covered most of one hemisphere of the planet. Our plan was to leisurely cruise amongst them, roughing it some nights, returning to the resort for others, depending on just how 'primitive' we were feeling at the time. Mierka of course insisted on taking her mini-lab, micro-biochemistry is her interest as well as her job and even if she hadn't brought any work home she'd be peering at the workings of something or other sometime during most week-ends.

The journey was uneventful, if a bit long but then that was a penalty we paid for choosing somewhere off the main inter-stellar trunk routes. When we woke after the hyper-jump we had a quick refresher and a light meal then went up into the view-dome to watch our approach to Seltire. I'll never know how the early space crews stood the sheer boredom of long trips in space, before supra-light speeds I mean - but I guess their reaction to planet-fall after years in space would have been infinitely greater than mine is after only a few days. But then that's hard to imagine too, as I never tire of the last few hours, gradually drawing closer to a majestically spinning ball, watching the various features become more distinct, being able to see the character of the particular planet slowly forming.

I imagine Seltire in some ways looks very similar to Old-earth looked back in the early days, before the space-age, before industry and mankind actually killed it. Lots of blue-green sea with masses of fluffy, white clouds dotted about, the light from the local sun reflecting back off the choppy water still several hundred miles below us. A beautiful little world.

That was another reason we had chosen it, being only three quarters the size of New-earth meant gravity was only about .7 of what we were used to and would, we hoped, make up for some of our general lack of fitness.

The shuttle down from the parking orbit was great fun, zipping down through the great canyons between the clouds and, as we got lower, finally being able to see some of the literally thousand of islands that made up this half of Seltire.

The resort itself was nice enough but after we had registered we went for a stroll around the complex and were both glad we had chosen to spend much of our time island-hopping instead of staying there the full time. Too many bright, bouncy people of the sort we both knew so well. Loud and forever organising parties. The sort that never seem to be able to simply enjoy their own company, needing wall-to-wall people around them at all times - just to confirm for each other that they are all having a simply wonderful time. Not our style.

We had planned to spend the first night there though, to give ourselves time to adjust, unpack, check the skimmer I had hired for us, get in supplies, make sure we were fresh for the following day - that sort of thing - and when I decided to take the skimmer out for a trial run around the bay, Mierka said she'd just do some last minute shopping. Funny how women, no matter how much stuff you take with you, always need to head straight for the local shops to buy something else!

The skimmer was great, light, fast - capable of doing more klicks per hour than I was confident of driving it at and very manoeuvrable, with plenty of room for the two of us and our gear and I thought. if things got a bit too rough we would, at a pinch, be able to sleep in it. Not that I expected us to have to do that, I had already checked that it was stocked with things we had ordered - a small living-dome, that I could set up in just a couple of minutes, a refresher unit, sleep-pads, a food-prep and several other gadgets, some of which I was neither sure as to just what they did nor how I was to make them do it. Anyway, everything seemed just fine and I headed the skimmer back to the resort.

When I went up to our room I found that Mierka was already back from her shopping trip and that if what she was trying on was a reasonable example of what she had bought, then the local shops would get my unqualified support. 

The outfit obviously came in two pieces, the first was like a second skin, covering her from neck to wrist and ankle and as I walked in she just about to slip the second, a billowy shimmer of next to nothing, down over her head. Her arms were stretched high and the outline of her body was reflected in the full-length wall mirror opposite me. Mierka has a great body, tall and slender but with firmly rounded breasts and buttocks that in that particular position were shown off to perfection.

The body-suit's colours were like tongues of fire, shading up from deep, flickering reds that licked their way up her legs and thighs, covering her stomach in shades of burnished orange that lightened as they swept on up over her breasts and shoulders. As the shimmering robe slipped down over her body she moved and turned towards me - the effect was simply stunning. It had a high, stand-up collar that framed her straight, black hair and the pale, honey colour of her face with its silvery sheen. The material fitted tightly beneath her breasts then fell in great filmy, sparkling folds around the rest of her, the flame colours of the body-suit flickering out through it.

I just stood there, mesmerised by the way the tongues of flame appeared to slowly wind their way up over her body. It was magical!

She smiled as she saw the look in my eyes and said.

'It looks as though you like it.'

I mumbled something about it being the sexiest thing I had ever seen and her eyes twinkled as she said.

'Well, what about this?'

She lifted her hands and held her breasts for a few moments - when she lowered them again I could see the shape of her palm and fingers and through it, her breasts, their slowly stiffening nipples and the dark halos surrounding them.

I licked my lips involuntarily as I stared, bewildered by what I was seeing. Mierka gave a low, throaty chuckle.

'It's a new material Slate. It responds to various sorts of touch - like that it becomes transparent, just for a few minutes. It does other things too but I thought you would especially enjoy this trick.'

She came slowly towards me and as she moved the tongues of fire began to writhe up over the curves of her body, appearing to flicker around her proudly thrusting breasts, as though inviting me, daring me to plunge my hands through the flames to reach them. When she stopped, just an arm's length away, I could see from the fact that her nipples had become fully erect that she had become just as aroused as her display was making me.

Her arms came around me and before she pressed her lips against mine she whispered. 'You'll just have to remember to be a little careful about where you touch me when we are out in public lover.'

I reached around her, cupping the curves of her bottom and pulled her tightly up against myself, feeling her thigh pressing against the swiftly growing hardness of my cock, as our lips crushed together.

But though I would have gladly made love to her right there and then she held me off, pleading imminent starvation and saying that if we did, she would have to start getting herself ready all over again, which I had to agree was quite reasonable - particularly since my own stomach was making quite loud protests about its emptiness too.

So I had a quick refresher and got dressed while Mierka put away several other things she had apparently bought and packed the things she wanted to take with her the following day. As we moved around each other I couldn't resist touching various parts of her but found that the outer robe served to inhibit the body-suit's reaction to my touch and that I could only get the uncovered area around her breasts to respond. It seemed a sensible precaution, a wearer would otherwise have problems every time they moved outside their home.

The meal itself was wonderful, mainly seafood of course, from the surrounding waters, some of which looked a little strange but tasted absolutely delicious. Fruit and vegetables were also local and we took the chance to identify some of the things we might find once we were 'out in the wild' - as we referred to our planned trips. Unlike the rest of the guests in the restaurant we took very little of the local liquor even though it was truly excellent, we both wanted clear heads for the following day's early start. All around us other people seemed to be in the middle of an on-going party and though of course we chatted to the people around us we refused several invitations to join in, being far more interested in the growing sense of togetherness we were feeling.

Several times during the meal Mierka teased me by placing her finger-tip on the fabric covering one or other of her nipples, which seemed to be fully erect each time they appeared and she grinned cheekily as she saw my eyes drawn automatically down as their familiar delights were exposed for a minute or two. We laughed as we tried to visualise the restaurant in a month or two, when the new material had become widely popular, imagining which parts of themselves various people might be exposing for their friends.

Later, when we returned to our room, Mierka disappeared into the sleep-pad area while I fixed us a night-cap, when she came out I saw that she had not only removed the gossamer-like outer robe but that she had also been busy with her hands. Both of her breasts were fully exposed for me and so was her exciting mound below and as she walked slowly towards me it was obvious from the expression on her face that she could see exactly what kind of an effect she hoped she was having on me. I had been so busy looking at her body that I hadn't noticed the small parcel in her hand that she then held up as she said.

'I bought you one of these outfits for you too - so get out of those things and try it on, I can't wait to see how you look in it.'

I emptied what was left of my own drink in one quick gulp and then did as she had asked and got out of my clothes. The memory of how sexy she had looked earlier, when I had first walked into our room plus the occasional glimpses she had given me of herself during dinner had kept my cock tingling for most of the evening and so it had begun to respond almost instantly to the sight of her walking towards me and as I stepped out of my under-briefs I glanced down at my crotch and saw that it had already started to get both longer and fatter. 

I opened the small parcel and inside it found a light, loosely folded piece of silvery blue material which unfolded into a one-piece garment similar in many ways to the one she had on but cut with a deep vee in the front and a small collar around the neck - other than that touch of tailoring it seemed totally shapeless and so light that I felt it might tear from just handling it.

As though reading my thought Mierka said. 'Don't worry, it's stronger than it seems, try it on Slate.'

I cautiously slipped one foot down into what appeared to be a leg, then balanced myself awkwardly as I did the same with the other. Almost miraculously the material seemed to stretch and mould itself, obviously reacting to the warmth of my body and with growing confidence I eased it higher and, finding arm holes, soon had it all on. As I pulled it up around my waist I thought I felt a slight pressure around my crotch - and by the time I had finished getting it on I was sure of it, it felt just as though the fabric itself was intermittently squeezing me.

I looked down, then at Mierka, she grinned as she saw the puzzled look on my face.

'No, you're not imagining things lover. Nice isn't it! It's doing it all over of course, you'll notice that in a minute - it's just that it's more obvious in the more sensitive areas. It's always trying to adjust to your shape, as you move it adjusts - so, if you start to get just a little bit excited it adjusts a little, squeezing you a bit, which of course excites you a little bit more - and so on and so on.' she explained.

'That's why your nipples were stiff all evening.'

'You noticed.'

'It was hard to miss.' I answered with a grin.

'But you couldn't see the other places, where it was doing the same thing. Try to imagine how excited you'd be by now if it had been working you over all evening in the same way that it is now - and if you were feeling sexy even before you put it on.' she added - and giggled as I answered.

'I'd have made a mess in my pants.'

Then, as I thought about the implications of what she had said, I imagined the gentle massage her breasts and pussy must have been getting for the last couple of hours and the effect that must have had on her, how sexy she must have been feeling by then and I felt my cock being gently but insistently squeezed once again. The thought of Mierka's state of arousal had triggered a tiny movement in my cock, which had in turn caused the fabric to respond - its pressure sparked another, fractionally larger pulse, prompting yet another adjusting squeeze.

I realised that at that rate it wouldn't be long before I would be equipped to properly deal with Mierka's need!

'The outfit's are sensational darling - but I see one, small problem.'

'What's that?'

'Getting them off - so I can make love to you.'

'That's another trick of the material - I think you'll like this one almost as much as its others. Come here and I'll show you.' She answered, turning her back to me. 'Now, lightly run your fingers around the top edge, you'll find a slight thickening right in the centre.'

I did as she told me, seeing the fabric starting to lose colour from the warmth of my fingers and found the little ridge she had mentioned.

'Got it.'

'Now, quite firmly run your finger straight down my spine.'

I did that - and saw the material simply part beneath my touch, falling away from her as my finger slid down. Her skin glowed in the soft light and I bent my head and kissed her naked shoulder, feeling her body shiver at the touch of my lips. I slid my finger lower, lower, on down over the curve of her bottom, then down into the crack between its firm cheeks, the material continuing to part and peel away from her. I knelt so that I could get my hand under her, between her slightly parted legs and at the same time, she bent forwards to make it even easier for me. As the fabric parted exposing her fleshy mound, I saw just how swollen her pussy was, then felt the hot wetness of it on my hand and, as my finger ran on up over the firm ridge of her clitoris, felt her whole body shuddering with her pent-up excitement.

She had been controlling herself for so long that she finally became impatient with both garments, quickly peeling hers off, then doing the same with mine, taking a quick, satisfied look down at how successfully it had done its work in arousing my cock then took my hand and hurried us both through into the sleep-pad area.

Now knowing that Mierka's body-suit must have kept her in a state of semi-arousal for most of the evening I didn't waste too much time on preliminaries - I buried my face between the soft warmth of her thighs and kissed and licked her pussy to a quick climax then, even while her body was still shuddering from that, I flipped her over and pulled her up on to her knees.

I didn't know whether it was the result of the massaging by the body-suit, the smell and feel of her body, Seltire's lower gravity or just a combination of all of those but I seemed to have a bigger erection than usual and almost before Mierka knew what I was doing I had slid it deep up inside her still weakly spasming cunt.

Starting with long, slow strokes that increased in speed and energy as our bodies responded to their growing need and urgency, I fucked her - finally exploding hard and deep inside her as she screamed from the force of it and she was gripped by a second climax.

Later we slept, deeply - our bodies recuperating from the journey itself, the anticipation of the real start of our adventure the following day and from the draining effect of the sexual stimulation and release we had experienced.

*

Chapter 2

Sex and Sun

So, refreshed, renewed and ready to face anything together, early the following morning we set off. Mierka settling herself comfortably in the seat by my side as I took the skimmer out of the harbour area and off down a narrow channel between the first two islands.

The skimmer rode the slightly choppy water smoothly and we revelled in the sensation of clean, salt-filled air blowing over us and the warmth of the sun rising slowly higher in the sky at our backs.

'Isn't this marvellous lover!' she said, giving me a happy smile. 'I feel so alive! A wonderful day - after a wonderful night.' she added. 'You were marvellous you know - I haven't had such a powerful orgasm for ages, you were so big.'

'Hang on to that memory darling. Remember that we decided not to bring those outfits with us - and they may have been more responsible than I was. Thanks to your clever shopping that is.'

'Oh I'm sure fresh air and solitude will be just as effective lover.' she said as she reached across to squeeze my thigh.

Rather than plot a course and simply turn the skimmer over to auto I was operating it on manual controls but without the map-screen I admit I would have soon been hopelessly lost. The islands we had seen from the air were far harder to identify from sea level of course and as the vegetation of each seemed almost identical it would have been impossible to tell just which particular one we were passing if we hadn't had the screen's constant reference to guide us.

We knew that most of the islands had received no more than an electronic survey, there were just too many of them for each to have received a human inspection and though the planetary team had certified there were no significant dangers, knowing that any island we stopped at was quite likely to never have been visited before made it even more exhilarating.

And that's exactly what we did for the next few days, island-hopping as the whim and fancy took us, sometimes going ashore so Mierka could take samples, sometimes to explore a little, sometimes just for the feel of solid ground beneath our feet, sometimes to see if there were any of the wild fruits and vegetables we had taken a liking to, sometimes to make love.

Although we didn't spend our entire time fucking of course - I was surprised at our increased level of frequency, we were like a newly married couple, compared with the number of times we would make love at home that is. I attributed my own increased level of need and performance to a combination of the surroundings - the fresh air and solitude - and presumed Mierka was being similarly affected too. She was certainly far more sexually demanding than I remembered her being for many years - and I wasn't complaining about that!

Naturally Mierka's mini-lab was working virtually non-stop as she took samples of just about everything in sight and reach. In fact, by the third or fourth day she seemed to have become more and more interested in the results she was getting, spending much more time processing and tabulating the test figures over and over again. I said nothing for a couple of days - but by the end of that first week, when she had become even more absorbed in her work, I finally asked her what she was finding.




Sex in Sci-Fi Ch. 03



'It's still to early to be sure Slate. I just wished I had a full lab nearby - the mini-lab's great but doesn't have the fine tuning necessary for marginal variances and that's what I think I'm getting.'

'Explain please - in words of one syllable.'

She grinned back at me, it had originally taken a long time but during the time we had been together she had learned to translate most of her scientific jargon into a form that I could understand.

'O.K. All of the islands we have stopped at so far are similar, in composition and vegetation I mean. Right?'

'Right!'

'Wrong!'

'Wrong?'

'Yes - they're not. Or at least I think the mini-lab is finding that they're not. As I said, the variations are tiny, just below the margin the mini-lab can identify - I think. If we... Yes of course - damn, how stupid of me! Slate, can we skim non-stop for a day tomorrow? Would you mind if we did that?'

I understood what she was saying. If there had been constant but very minute variances from one island to the next - if we jumped a lot in one go - she might be able to get a positive answer from the mini-lab.

'Of course, how far do you think you need to go darling?'

'Let me look at the map-screen a minute, I'll just see which way has the largest number of islands. I'm sure it's just numbers that count, not distance.'

In a matter of minutes we had plotted a course that gave us the maximum number in the smallest run, a few more to feed the plot into the auto system - I wasn't risking my limited navigation skills on a course as complex as that - and, with that done I saw her visibly relax.

'Thank you darling, you're very considerate of me. It must be such a bore for you sometimes.'

'Not when I know what you're doing and feel I'm a little involved in it. It's when you're locked away inside yourself that I get a bit, well jealous I suppose. This is fun, I can understand what you are doing, it's like detective work - and maybe I can help in some way.'

She gave me a big hug and kissed me. 'Of course you help. Now, let's eat, get an early night and be away as soon as the sun comes up. We'll have to think of something we can do to pass the time tomorrow, it's going to be boring I'm afraid, just sitting watching lots of water and islands go past. Any ideas?'

'Several - and they all revolve around us being naked most of the day, so I'll fix the skimmer's roof, to protect us from the sun, while you start dinner. O.K.?'

She laughed happily. 'More than O.K.!'

The following day passed in a pleasant haze of sun, water and more than a fair amount of sex - so by the time we felt the skimmer turning and slowing late in the afternoon both of us were weak and quite tired - pleasantly so of course - and certainly neither of us was complaining! But once on shore even Mierka couldn't be bothered to rush off for samples, as I had expected, I set up the dome and fetched some essentials from the skimmer while she started getting a meal organised in the food-prep.

As I trekked back and forth between where I had moored the skimmer and the dome I looked around to see if I could actually see any of the variations Mierka was hoping to find. I didn't of course - but the island did give the impression of being another that hadn't been visited before. We had seen several like that, more frequently as we travelled further from the resort centre. No matter how careful people are they almost always leave some sign of their passing, even if there is no rubbish there will be other signs, logs or stones moved to clear a dome-site, branches broken, soil turned over, tracks made. I had become quite good at spotting such tell-tale signs but here there were none, not close to the water anyway.

I did see signs of life though, as we had on most of the islands, again there had been more as we got further from the resort, birds, lizard-like creatures and quite a lot of scurrying noises amongst the vegetation. As well as seeing a number of tracks and various birds flying overhead I also spotted several types of fruiting trees, one of which had become our particular favourite, so naturally I picked a couple of pieces that seemed ripe, thinking they would make a nice finish to whatever Mierka was making us for dinner.

By the time we had got everything ready the sun was just about to sink below the horizon and Mierka and I stood and watched, with our arms about each other's waist, as its red-gold brilliance set fire to the water. Once the sun had gone it quickly began to get quite dark and the dome lit up behind us, its soft glow and the gentle hum of the equipment blending with the sound of the water lapping below us and the slowly increasing star-light above. We stood there for a while, enjoying the early evening then, almost reluctantly turned and went in for our meal.

As we ate we talked and I tried to get Mierka to explain just what it was that she was hoping to find in her test results the following day.

'I wish I knew love. I just think it's odd that there is even a chance of there being the variations that I think I might find. You would expect that with the islands so close together there would be little opportunity for much variation at all. Some islands might suit certain plants and creatures more than others, for whatever reason - but when you find the same species on many islands but that, at the micro-level, each one is slightly different - that's crazy!

'Any ideas?'

'Not really. I need to do more work first. But what it could mean is that what appears to be a member of the same species could have quite different aspects to it from one place to another.'

'Explain please.'

'Well - let's take something simple.' She looked around for inspiration and caught sight of the fruit I had picked on the way back from the skimmer. 'Ah, just the thing, our favourite fruit. Now, we know quite a lot about this, let's forget micro-botany for a minute, we know it's sweet but has a hint of acid that gives it that lovely fresh taste. Now suppose we find that a similar piece of fruit, picked on this island...'

'Those pieces are from this island lover.'

'From this island!'

'Yes, I picked them as I came back from the skimmer. They look identical to what we've been eating all the time.'

'And they may be - but suppose they're not. Suppose, just for argument's sake, that here they are more acid and less sweet. Another few dozen islands away they might be totally acidic, not a trace of sugar at all. That's the sort of thing I mean. But, as I said, that's just a small, obvious variation, the effect could be much more dramatic - even if it were less obvious.'

'If it's true, any ideas as to how it could have come about?'

'Well it seems to me - and I'm no geologist remember - that the islands have to have been virtually separate, self-sustaining ecosystems for a very, very long time now, the life forms on them have had time to branch, become sub-species in their own right. But I'm only guessing of course.'

Just then we heard a sound, at first we both thought it was wind and as it steadily became louder I saw that Mierka began to look a little apprehensive.

'Do you think there's a storm coming? Is the dome strong enough Slate?'

I assured her it was - but as the sound continued to increase in volume I began to wonder about it myself.

'I'll stick my head out and see what I can.'

'Be careful darling.' she said as I released the door panel and poked my head out. At first I couldn't see a thing but as my eyes got used to the darkness I found I could see straight down the channel that the skimmer had followed earlier. Dead calm, not even a ripple disturbed the surface of the water. Then I realised that the sound was actually above us and, looking up found that I could see what was causing the noise, or at least their silhouettes. Birds! Hundreds and hundreds of birds, flying straight over the top of us, it was the noise of their wings that had startled us.

'Come and see Mierka. It's quite safe, come and see!'

Nervously she joined me and as she followed the line of my arm, pointing skyward, saw the birds.

'Wow! They must be fruit bats - or something like them, night feeders anyway. Where on earth are they all going? We haven't seen a concentration of fruit trees anywhere, at least not one big enough for all of those.'

Her nervousness vanished in a flash and before I could stop her she was out of the dome and running down the beach so she could get a better line on their direction of flight.

Of course after that our trip took on a second objective, to track where the night-flyers', as we dubbed them, were heading for - after Mierka had taken all the samples she needed for her mini-lab trials of course. So, while she took a series of those from amongst the nearby vegetation, I spent some time poring over the map-screen, looking for and plotting the larger islands on the course the night-flyers had been taking and then explored a little further afield, making a point of also collecting a few samples for the mini-lab to work on.

We caught up with each other around mid-day and took shelter from the increasing heat of the sun beneath the trees at the edge of the beach. To protect herself from scratches and bites while hunting through the undergrowth Mierka had been wearing her protective coverall which she slipped off while I cut up some of our favourite fruit for refreshment. Even though her under things were practical rather than provocative I still found myself enjoying the sight of her semi-nakedness and felt the familiar faint stirrings of arousal as she moved around sorting and preparing the samples we had collected between us. When she had finished and we sat down and started munching on the fruit I could tell that she was simply bursting to say something.

'How are the early results looking lover?' I asked as casually as I could, smiling to myself as I saw how restrained she tried to keep herself as she answered.

'They're looking good actually. Of course it's far too early to say anything definite. I need to do much more work to be sure. But, just between you and I, I'm a bit excited about the whole thing.'

I grinned openly as I put my arm around her shoulder and gave her a hug.

'I'll do my best to keep it a secret, I'll try not to let anyone else know darling.' I whispered, chuckling as I peered furtively around us and then spoke in a low whisper. 'Trust me. What do you think you've found?'

She realised how silly her caution had sounded and smiled back at me as she cuddled closer.

'I know you think I'm too cautious - but it is early yet, the mini-lab's still chewing over some data. But it does look as though I was right - there seems to be a big jump in the variations I thought I was getting.'

'Fantastic! So your theory is right, that's wonderful darling!' I responded excitedly, squeezing her even harder.

'Hold on, hold on! I don't know it's right yet, it just looks as though it might be. And I don't have a theory at all, just some odd observations. Don't get too carried away Slate.'

'And don't you be so conservative darling. You'll crack it, I know you will. When you publish the results you'll be even more famous, you'll see I'm right. Now.' I said as I turned her face towards me. 'I'd better make the most of you before your fame gets too widespread and you have far more desirable men than me knocking on your door.'

Her lips were still covered with the acid-sweetness of the juice from the fruit we had eaten and I sucked that off as my tongue slipped between them to snake around inside her mouth, while my hand slipped down between her legs and closed gently over her sex. She responded even more quickly and more hungrily than I had expected and once started, I was surprised to find that my own need was far more powerful than I had realised - in only a matter of seconds we were stripped and my cock was hard up inside her, then all to soon, flooding her with a quite enormous load of semen.

Afterwards, I held her tight, my cock still twitching inside the hot wetness of her pussy as we lay side by side, gasping for breath, recovering from the suddenness and sheer force of our climaxes.

'I didn't realise just how much I wanted you lover.' I muttered. 'That was simply incredible!'

'For me too darling. I haven't come as quickly or as strongly as that for years. I don't know what got into me.'

'Me - my cock I mean.' I answered quickly and we grinned at each other like two kids who had discovered sex for the first time.

'Now, where do we go from here - with your work I mean?' I added quickly, my cock slipping from her as I eased myself into a more comfortable position.

She chuckled. 'I thought for a moment you were offering me a second helping. But you mean work. Well, I have to feed the rest of these samples through the mini-lab, that'll take an hour or two, then I'd like to run some more detailed comparisons, between these results and my earlier ones, see if I can get a definite plot of the changes. Then I need to think a bit. Then see if we can track the night-flyers of course. Is that O.K.?'

'Of course. I've picked out what I think are some of the most likely islands, working on the basis they would have to be fairly large to sustain the number of trees I imagine there would have to be to feed the number of creatures we saw. Of course that could be wrong, they could have spread out over a wide area after we lost sight of them - but somehow I don't think so. Anyway we have to start somewhere.

Why don't you finish your work on the samples, we'll stay here tonight, get a better fix on their flight-path and then head off first thing tomorrow.'

During the rest of the day I helped her as much as I could and packed away the things we wouldn't need that night while she waited for the mini-lab to finish its data processing run. Having finished everything I could do I settled myself down and plugged into some music, smiling fondly at the look of intense concentration on Mierka's face as she examined the progressive results of the analysis - and being surprised to find that just watching her was beginning to arouse my need for her again.

But then, as I was seriously considering interrupting her work, I saw the expression on her face change suddenly and knew that the mini-lab had finally finished - and that the results were dramatic.

'What have you got darling?' I said, getting up and going across to stand behind her.

She looked up, startled, she had obviously been so deep in thought she had forgotten I was there. 'Oh - sorry Slate, I've been miles away. But look, here and here and this too!'

She pointed to what to me were meaningless jumbles of figures and symbols. 'What do they mean?' I asked.

'I wish I knew. But there are definite shifts in structure, major shifts. For instance, look at the results of the tests on the fruit, the one we like so much I mean.

These are from the ones we brought with us from the resort.' She said with a note of rising excitement in her voice. 'These from the first we picked in the wild. And these, from the ones you picked yesterday.'

Even though I hadn't the faintest idea what they actually meant, I could see the changes in the patterns of the figures. 'See, there's a radical shift in their chemical structure - yet to us they are virtually identical. It's fantastic!'

I suddenly wondered about the effects the changes might have. 'Are they safe?' I asked.

'Well we're still here.' she said, grinning up at me. Then, pointing at one group of figures, added. 'But I'm confused by this component here, see how different it is across the sets of sample results. Although there's a trace in the first, which becomes a little more pronounced in the second, here in the third set there's a totally new component showing. It doesn't make sense and I've no idea at all just what it means. Maybe we'll turn green or something.' she cracked. 'I can't wait to see if there are any similar trees on those larger islands, so I can check again.'

If Mierka wasn't worried why should I be - but somewhere at the back of my mind there was a niggle - just a small one and at that stage I didn't know if it was a worry or a thought, so I left it to work that out for itself.

Mierka spent a while studying the results, making sounds of suppressed excitement from time to time then pushed herself away from the unit. 'It's no good, I'll just have to try and be patient, until I can put this stuff through the equipment at work I mean. The mini-lab doesn't have the deductive capacity, it's fine for analysis but I need help in making conclusions. We'll just keep feeding stuff into it, so its big brother has more to work on.'

We ate early, assuming, quite rightly as it turned out, that the flock would pass over us at about the same time as the previous night, so we were waiting for them and I was able to get an accurate fix on their track, check it against the islands I had short-listed that morning and narrowed my selection down to just three of them.

Having done everything we could until morning we took a stroll along the beach and I found that just the feel of her hand in mine was enough to bring back even more strongly the feelings I had experienced earlier. So, cutting short our walk I took her back to the dome and was more than pleased to find that she was not only willing but just as eager to make love as I was.

*

Chapter 3

The Orchard

On nothing but a hunch I plotted a course for the second of the three islands I'd elected, which at the speed the skimmer could do, wouldn't take us too long to reach and, after waking early and packing the rest of our gear, we set off.

From what I could see, it was virtually identical with the island we had just left. I knew it was bigger, several times bigger but from what I could see of the little bay we pulled in to, there was nothing to separate it from the one we had left less than half an hour before. But, while I unpacked and set up everything we had only just taken down and put in the skimmer, Mierka was off, taking still more samples. An hour or so later, with a print-out from the map-screen and some basic essentials in light packs on our backs, we set off on an exploratory trip - at first skirting the dense growth that came almost down to the water's edge, later heading up along the path a small river cut through it.

Neither of us was used to hiking long distances through unpaved country and we would have made better time if we had been fitter, as it was, it was well after mid-day before we came over a low rise - and saw it. A shallow bowl, that stretched for three or four klicks and was crammed full of trees, trees bearing fruit, fruit that looked exactly like the one that had become our favourite!

'I don't believe it, I just don't believe it!' Mierka gasped. 'We haven't seen anything even remotely like this on any of the islands. It's simply incredible! Like a plantation. Like an orchard!'

We made our way down the rock strewn side of the bowl and as we reached the roughly grassed level area and began to walk amongst the fruit trees I noticed that beneath each one there were droppings and that as we made our way slowly through the trees, heading for the centre of the area, the droppings became more concentrated.

'I'm sure this is where the night-flyers come. Just look at the mass of droppings under the trees.'

'Yes, I've been thinking exactly the same thing. And see how fresh they are - and how much half-eaten fruit there is too, that's obviously what attracts them. We must have arrived right at the height of the season - a week or two earlier, or later and we might never have noticed anything.' She picked a particularly luscious piece of fruit and rolled around in her hand, looking at it thoughtfully.

'I wonder why they come here - in the numbers that they do. There are trees everywhere, we've found them on every island we've stopped at and seen them on virtually every one we've passed. What would make them fly all that extra distance?'




Sex in Sci-Fi Ch. 03



'Maybe they just like eating together, or perhaps they're into group sex.' I said with a grin.

'Or perhaps some flavour or other aspect of it is stronger here, concentrated as a result of the number of trees growing in one place. I wonder...'

Before I could stop her she had taken a small bite out of the fruit and I held my breath as I watched as she held it in her mouth, concentrating hard as she savoured the flavour.

She swallowed, smiled and said. 'Well, unless it's a totally new form of poison, there's nothing wrong with that. Maybe a touch sweeter and I think that slightly acidic after-taste that we find so refreshing may be just a little stronger too. Still absolutely delicious. Go ahead, have some yourself darling, tell me what you think.'

I picked a piece for myself and with only a moment's hesitation, took a similarly small bite from it. She had been right of course, there was a subtle difference in the taste, if possible, it was even nicer than what we had become almost addicted to.

While I was enjoying it Mierka was staring at the piece in her hand, a puzzled expression furrowing her brow, talking softly to herself.'

'What's so dramatically different about it that they'd expend the extra energy needed to come all this way? Is there some mineral in this island's soil? Perhaps they are group feeders. There must be something - where to start?'

I interrupted her concentration. 'Maybe the night-flyers are gourmets - they know where the very best pickings are and don't bother with the second-best varieties on the other islands.' I said jokingly.

She thought for a moment then grinned happily at me. 'You know, that just may be the answer darling. Sometimes I don't see things because it's staring me in the face, it's too simple - I get bogged down in looking for a scientific solution. Maybe the creatures just simply prefer the taste of this island's fruit! Thank you for the idea.'

'So what's next? Do we move camp to here?'

'Could we manage to do that, move all our gear I mean?'

'Not if we had to lug it all the way darling but I think we'll find that over on the far side, the trees stop just below a line of sand dunes, less than half a klick from the sea.' I showed her the map and pointed across to where I meant. 'We could bring everything round in the skimmer and camp on the dunes themselves, we could see virtually the entire area from there. There's no fresh water, we'd have to rely on the skimmer for that but because a lot of the time we've been eating fruit instead of drinking from the supply on board we've used very little so far, so that wouldn't cause a problem.'

Could we get to the skimmer and back before dark?'

I checked the time. 'No problem, we'll get back much quicker than we came because we know the way, we could be back and have the dome set up well before the sun sets.'

'Let's do it then, you really don't mind do you darling? I mean you're not just being sweet and kind and generous to me - while inside you'd much rather be off cruising around the islands?'

I grinned and hugged her. 'Of course not. As I said, it's like a detective story, I'm just as curious as you are - even though not for such scientific reasons.' Adding with a grin. 'Anyway, when we've got ourselves organised I intend to make a pig of myself on the fruit here!'

So that's just what we did, hiked quickly back to the skimmer, again packed everything into it, zipped around the coast to a spot that I thought left us with the shortest walk, secured the skimmer to a convenient rock and then began to carry what essentials we'd need up through the dunes. I'd been pretty accurate with my interpretation of the map and we set up the dome beside a particularly tall dune, from the top of which we could see clear across the shallow bowl which the trees filled. Probably because of the proximity of the sea and the more sandy soil the trees closest to us were neither as numerous nor as big as those we had seen from the other side but we could see that those growing just a short way further from us were much healthier, just as laden with ripening fruit.

We were both sweating from the climb up through the loose sand and the sight of the fruit trees was enough to make my mouth water. 'Stay here, I'll go and get us some fruit darling. You must be as thirsty as I am, neither of us is used to quite so much physical work - I'm absolutely parched.' I said and went down the firmer, shallower incline towards the trees.

At the edge I noticed that the bird droppings were less concentrated than we had seen on the other side but, as I moved deeper into the trees I saw that as they became healthier looking, it increased. In a matter of minutes I had picked as many fully ripened fruit as I could carry and headed back up to where Mierka was standing, handing one to her I chose another for myself and put the rest down inside the dome.

For the next minute or two neither said a word, we were both too busy simply enjoying the succulent, juicy mouthfuls.

'How about a quick swim to freshen ourselves up a bit more?' I suggested when I finished.

'Mmm!' Mierka mumbled, nodding, her mouth still half full with the last of her fruit.

I grabbed a couple of towels and made a sling out of one of them into which I put some more fruit, handing her another piece to eat on the way. 'I told you I was going to make a pig of myself.' I said as I took a mouthful, 'They really are beautiful though, aren't they.' I added as juice started to run down my chin.

'Mmm!' she agreed as she immediately began to bite deeply into hers too.

We slipped and slid down the dunes to the beach, quickly stripped off and plunged straight into the water where we swam, splashed and generally behaved like a couple of kids, letting the sea wash away the sweat and dust of the day and refreshing and invigorating us both.

Afterwards, as we were towelling ourselves dry, I suddenly became momentarily dizzy and, when that passed after a couple of seconds I then felt a sort of warm, prickling sensation starting to run through my skin, as though very small charges of electricity were being passed through it. As I stood still I became conscious that the sensations seemed to be converging, each individual charge running into the next and the next, growing in strength as they did that and that the resulting streams seemed to all be heading for the one place - my crotch!

I looked down and saw that my cock was thickening and stiffening even as I looked at it - and I felt an urge, a need that was growing as quickly as it was, an urgent, overpowering need to have sex!

Looking across at Mierka I saw that she too was standing quite still, staring at me, or to be more precise, at my swiftly rising cock and that her eyes had an almost glassy look about them.

Then I felt my heart racing, pumping blood more powerfully through me, pumping it down to my cock - and when I looked down again I saw that it had already become massively swollen, rising almost vertically, the veins on the surface of the shaft grossly distended, the head tightly smooth and already a dark plum colour. Sex, I had to have sex!

Again I looked up at Mierka and, as though through a red haze, saw that her body was reacting just as powerfully as mine. Her breasts were swollen, their already jutting tips had become dark red, she had both hands down between her thighs, clutching at herself and, as she looked up at me I then saw a desperate hunger burning in her eyes.

I grabbed her, virtually threw her down on the sand, kneeled between her already widely splayed legs and immediately, without any hesitation simply thrust my seemingly white-hot cock into the quenching wetness of her cunt.

Her eyes stared up, their pupils dilated, staring right through me - and as I began to fiercely pound in and out of her I felt her fingers dig sharply into my back, wincing as her nails cut through my skin and she cried out at the top of her voice.  

'Fuck me! Fuck me! For pity sake fuck me - harder, harder, deeper, faster!'

I felt her body opening wide, to take in all of the monstrous thing I felt my cock had become - and though I was driving down into her with all my strength, even that didn't seem to be enough for her - I saw her shove both hands beneath her arse and she used them to add still more force to her body as she thrust her hips even harder up to meet me.

As our bodies pounded together, with a force that seemed to knock the wind out of each other each time, I heard us grunting, sounds that got ever louder and, as our action got even faster, even more desperate, our separate sounds blending into one continuous noise.

Mierka lifted her legs, twined them around me and, gripping me tightly with her thighs, locked them behind me and used them to pull me down harder, still deeper into herself.

Then she came! Loudly, wantonly, frenziedly - but still urged me on, if anything even more desperately.

I felt it gathering, boiling, surging up through me - then it jetted, fountained out of my exploding cock, blasting deep into her body - yet the need didn't seem to lessen, just grow even stronger!

My balls were a hard swollen mass, my cock was still rock-hard, felt just as massive and my body, demanding still more of her, drove it in and out of her pussy like a greasily flashing piston.

Sweat poured from us, muscles ached, breath rasped into near-starved lungs as whatever it was that had control of our bodies compelled us on and on. Mierka came again and then again until finally the orgasms seemed to blend together and she slipped into an almost trance-like state, her body quivering rhythmically beneath me as wave after wave of unsatisfying pleasure rolled through her.

My cocked pumped a second gout of semen into her and though I felt sure that with that it had emptied me, something still drove it on and it was only some time later, after a third, much weaker series of irregular spurts that I felt the power of the compulsion actually lessening.

I rolled off her, gasping for air, weak, near exhausted but, through the dazed fog that my mind had become, I knew that between my legs the raw thing my cock had become still twitched, wanted still more.

Stumbling to my feet I pulled Mierka up with me, grabbed her hand and began to pull her towards the sea.

'Get in the water - maybe that will help!' I croaked and as we floundered through the first line of waves I felt the coolness quenching the heat - but at the same time the salt, burning it.

'What happened to us?' she spluttered, flinching as the water splashed high up between her legs.

'The fruit! The fruit we've eaten here - it's the only thing it could be.' I answered as I struggled to get my breath. 'And I wouldn't mind betting that's why the night-flyers come here too. But for now, just swim, exhaust yourself, try to work whatever it is out of your system.'

I swam too, trying to drain what little strength I had left, hoping that would also sap the power of what had taken us over. Sure enough, after a while I realised that I was not only chilled to the bone but that the urgent need had all but gone. I swam across to where Mierka was then floating on her back, noticing that her hands were pressed between her thighs, her face tensed and tried to imagine the pain she must be feeling from the salt water inside her much abused pussy.

She opened her eyes as I slipped my arm tenderly around her and I saw that the desperate need they had contained earlier had gone. 'Let's get you back to the dome, get some soothing medication on you. Get some energy fluids into us.' I said, steering her towards the shore where we hobbled rather than walked and I had to support her for the climb up the dunes. But, after we had liberally applied some creams to ourselves, guzzled a fair amount of additive filled water and rested our weary bodies, we talked over the incredible experience we had shared.

'You're right Slate - it must be the fruit. I've been thinking back over the time since we left the resort. We've both been far more sexually active than usual.'

I grinned. 'You'd noticed that too had you? I don't recall any complaints until now.'

'I'm not exactly complaining even now darling. What happened down there was a bit frightening in the way it happened - but I'm not complaining about the activity itself. Are you?' she responded with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

'No way! Though I think a slightly smaller dose would have been better. Less wearing on the system - and perhaps a bit more conscious enjoyment of what was happening would have been nice.'

'True. But, as I said, we've had sex far more often than usual - I'd thought that was just because we were away from the usual pressures, alone together, more relaxed, those things - but we have been eating the fruit regularly. Maybe that's it.'

'But why the difference darling. If you're right - and I'm sure you are - why haven't we reacted as we did, before this?'

'The difference in the fruit, remember we agreed it tasted different, a little sweeter, a slightly more acidic after-taste. I bet that when I put some of the local fruit through the mini-lab we'll find there's a strong shift in that component group, remember the one I pointed out to you before?'

'But before you start on that, the sun's not far off setting now so let's get something to eat, then settle down to see what happens when the night-flyers get here. And I don't think either of us have any doubts about the fact that this is the place they come to, do we?'

She shook her head and together we prepared a meal and after eating, gathered together some equipment and moved out to find a suitable spot from which to watch what would happen below us when the creatures arrived, using branches from the nearer trees to disguise the place and hoping that nothing else gave away our presence.

*

Chapter 4

The Night-Flyers

After a while our eyes grew accustomed to the star-light and even without the night-scopes we found we could see reasonably well, in fact quite well enough to eventually spot the dark shape of the head of the flying column when it appeared over the rim of the bowl opposite where we sat. The first creatures headed straight for the centre of the trees - as usual in nature, the strongest, fastest flyers got the pick of the food supply - and it was quite some time before the trees on our side began to also fill with the night-flyers. Then it was only a few seconds before one of them settled into the tree closest to us.

The creature was quite large with relatively short but very wide wings that seemed to be smooth, almost leathery rather than feathered and we saw that it had a short but powerful looking bill. After landing, it perched quite still for a short while, then hopped in a rather ungainly fashion from one branch to another, as though exploring the tree, looking for the best perch or closest, ripened fruit. Other creatures landed in different parts of the tree and unlike the fruit-bats we had first compared them to, there was no squabbling, no noise - each seemed to pick one section of the tree and was quite content to explore just that area.

Having found whatever it was looking for, each creature then attacked the chosen fruit, stabbing deep into the ripened pieces, swallowing the resulting chunks in a single gulp then stabbing again and again until either the fruit was finished or, more usually the remaining section fell from the tree. The feeding didn't actually take very long and I would imagine that each creature probably only got to eat less than a quarter of a full-sized fruit. Then, when it had had enough it perched quite still and by comparison with the previous flurry of activity it was almost as though each creature had suddenly become frozen in place.

Just then, from the centre of the bowl we heard a squawking sound - one, then two, then a group of creatures, the noise getting progressively louder and louder, waves of rising sound rippling outwards from the centre as more and more creatures joined in the cacophony until those in the tree in front of us began too. Soon after that we saw creatures flapping up from the trees in the middle and, just as the squawking had steadily radiated outwards, so did the dark rising shapes.

I gave Mierka a pair of night-scopes so we could both watch what happened next and as I peered upwards I focussed on one creature, it's wings were flapping fast as it rose in a tight circle, it's individual cry lost amongst the almost deafening sound of all the other creatures. I saw it circle close to another, which banked and fell away, then another, which didn't and then watched as the pair circled closer and closer, their wings almost touching. Then, as though responding to some signal, they fell, just closed their wings and literally fell to the ground - landing heavily just in front of us.

There was no preamble, no courting dance, the male simply grabbed the female's neck in his bill and then spent half a minute or so energetically fertilising her. When it was done both creatures squatted there, apparently dazed by what had happened to them, gave a couple of half-hearted squawks, clumsily took to the air and flapped back to wherever they had come from.

We sat there, looking at each other in stunned disbelief.

'That's what we must have looked like - a simple fucking-machine.' I said.

'Whatever it is, it's certainly effective. The creatures obviously have a much lower reaction to whatever it is though. If you compare their weight and mass with ours and the amount they ate, we needed much less.'

'And were affected much more dramatically darling.' I reminded her. 'The creatures just did it once - we were going hammer and tongs for a lot longer than that.'

'We certainly were!' she replied, squeezing my hand and even in the dim light I could again see that mischievous twinkle in her eyes. 'How about another a nibble or two of fruit before we settle down for the night?'

'I thought you'd want to get some samples ready for your mini-lab.' I said in mock surprise, grinning from ear to ear as she answered.

'Oh, I think that just for once, personal observation might be even more useful than scientific analysis, don't you?'

Of course I agreed - and in spite of us both being a little bit sore, although the medication had certainly done wonders for us, we managed quite well to both advance the frontiers of science and at the same time increase the sum total of our personal experience of pleasure.

*

Chapter 5

Trial and Error

It was long after dawn when we finally woke and the sun was already high and hot outside the dome, in spite of the various exertions of the previous day I was surprised to find that I had no traces of fatigue, no aching muscles and even my cock was in remarkably good shape, considering the pummelling it had taken. Mierka said she felt just as good too and that like me, was showing no signs of over-use.

'Maybe there's something other than just an aphrodisiac, or whatever you want to call it, in the fruit. Maybe there's a rejuvenator of some sort too.'

'Hopefully we'll find out more about the composition today, I plan on running a whole series of trials - on us as well as on the fruit and I'd like you to work out some way of catching one of those creatures tonight.'

'Catch one? What on earth for?'

'I want to run some tests on it as well, see just what's going on inside them, compare those with whatever I find out about our reactions. That makes sense doesn't it?'

'Of course. O.K., I always had a secret ambition to be a wild animal trainer.'

'But before you get started, how about something to eat?'

'Yes, I'm famished - but no fruit, not today, nor tonight either I'm afraid. I want to give our bodies a chance to get back to normal, then we'll run some stepped trials, you know, gradually take larger amounts, see how much of the fruit we need to get us, well stimulated. Will you help me?'




Sex in Sci-Fi Ch. 03



'My pleasure m'am. Though I'm sure we could start right now, I feel perfectly normal, why wait?' I asked with such a wicked leer that Mierka couldn't help herself from laughing.

'Just be patient - and control yourself. I'm going to have to too remember.' She laughed again as I pulled a disappointed face and turned away to start getting some breakfast ready for us both. 'By the way.' she added. 'I've no idea what the fruit's called, we'll have to come up with a name for it, I can't keep recording it as just 'the fruit' can I.'

'That's easy - the name's obvious.'

'What?'

'Passion-fruit!'

'Of course - how stupid of me - it's exactly right! Passion Fruit it is.'

And so for us at least, it has been ever since.

After we had eaten, Mierka started her tests, first taking both blood and samples of tissue from various parts of both of us, some of which were somewhat more painful than others! While she was waiting for the results that she would then compare with our standards, stored in the mini-lab, she asked me to go down into what we were now both referring to as the 'orchard' and get a variety of Passion Fruits, in different stages of ripeness, so she could see how the composition changed as they ripened.

Then she buried herself in her work and I was free to start thinking about a night-flyer trap. Knowing the pattern of the creatures' behaviour made it easier and having worked out how to do it, I decided to actually catch two of them - one when they first arrived, before it had eaten, the other in those few seconds before the effect of the fruit took over. I didn't know whether I'd be able to keep the thing alive once it was under the effect but at least I'd give Mierka the opportunity to test it, guessing that she would appreciate the opportunity of being able to do some comparative tests on the creatures as well as on ourselves.

The skimmer's emergency equipment included two life-saving capsules which I was going to convert for use as temporary cages for the creatures - and though I removed as much of the sensitive equipment as I could, I hoped that in their panic they wouldn't wreck too much of what I had to leave inside them, just in case they were needed later.

By the time I had finished preparing the capsules I found Mierka had finished checking all the samples she had taken from us earlier. We were both not only fighting fit, in fact there were signs that our metabolisms were in better shape than usual, though whether that was as a result of all the fresh air and exercise we had been getting or from some action of the fruit itself, we of course had no way of knowing. Although the tests she had started on the various fruits I had collected weren't finished, the earlier ones, on the ripened fruit were - and, just as Mierka had predicted, the dramatic changes were in the number group she had predicted they would be.

'So now you know where the shift is do you have a better chance of actually isolating what the components are?' I asked as we peered down at the screen.

'Maybe - but somehow I doubt it. That's why I want to run those stepped trials on us. They will show me our body's reaction to whatever it is and that will help me track it backwards. But don't be surprised if all of this still doesn't give me he answer, it's quite likely we'll have to wait until we get back home again.'

'What do you mean darling?'

'The mini-lab's a terrific tool - but there are limitations to what it can do, it just doesn't have the power and capacity of the big unit, I'm storing everything I have had it do and if the worst comes to the worst I can reproduce every step of each test later - and hopefully that will give us definitive answers. To be honest I've been expecting all along that I'd have to do that, I've really got much better answers than I ever thought I would.'

'Still, it would be nice to know for sure, before we leave, wouldn't it?'

'Of course it would. Apart from anything else, if I miss a step or something that I later find I should have done, we will have missed the chance for ever. I mean we're not likely to be able to just hop on a ship and come again are we?' she said as she turned back to examine the results of the tests

'Not at the prices they're charging lover. It would take us a few years before we could do that - unless...'

I didn't finish the sentence and Mierka was by then too engrossed in her work to notice the way my voice tailed off. Until then it had been kind of fun helping her and I had become genuinely curious about what gave the Passion Fruit its amazing powers - but it wasn't something I had a personal involvement in, other than from benefiting sexually that is. But an idea had suddenly occurred to me and, once it had, I couldn't understand why I hadn't thought of it before. Now, as well as doing everything I could to help Mierka get the very best results she could, I also had a project of my own.

During the afternoon I started on a series of tests.

The saga of the great night-flyer hunt will probably never become a galaxy-wide favourite but, in spite of finding the creatures far more aggressive than I had anticipated and far less amenable to being cooped in the capsules than I had hoped, we did finally manage to get some 'before' and 'after' samples from them before we released them again. Luckily we never did have to use the capsules ourselves!

By the time we had finished preparing the test samples and then cleaned ourselves up afterwards I don't think either of us were too upset about Mierka's sexual embargo, we just flopped out on our sleep-pads and fell asleep almost immediately.

Mierka spent most of the following day with her mini-lab tests, only interrupting her work when it was time to take another sample of blood or tissue from both of us and she was so engrossed in what she was doing that she took hardly any notice of what I was up to and I have to admit that I was so busy I completely forgot that Mierka's original intention was for us to start on her series of trials on ourselves. But then, knowing her as well as I did and seeing how deeply involved she was in her work I knew better than to suggest we start then. Apart from getting better results I knew we would both enjoy the experience all the more if we waited until her work was finished, her mind clear of scientific thoughts.

That night, as we finally relaxed over a meal, she remembered.

'Oh Slate - I'm sorry!'

'What about lover?'

'I - I mean we, we were going to start those trials on ourselves today. I've even forgotten to take final blood samples. Damn! I get so caught up in what I'm doing I seem to forget everything else.'

She was so cross with herself I couldn't help smiling.

'Hey! It doesn't matter lover. I knew how preoccupied you were, I've been keeping myself busy, so we'll be ready to start tomorrow - when we'll both be more relaxed - and we can enjoy it!'

Her angry frown faded and was replaced by a look of relief and she reached across and squeezed my hand.

'You really are a very understanding man - sometimes! I suppose the fact that neither of us would have got too much fun out of experimenting today had absolutely nothing to do with it, did it?'

'Not a thing.'

'Liar!' she said, as we smiled fondly at each other. 'So, what's the programme for tonight - more celibacy?'

'Actually I thought a heavy work-out might help to burn-off whatever residual effects the stuff might be having on us. Just so we can start with a clean slate, so to speak, tomorrow.'

Mierka's laugh was rich and fruity and she squeezed my hand harder as she responded.

'Sounds like a very scientific approach to me - good logic, right rationale, measurable results. In fact I can't fault it.'

'So, the programme. You take some more blood samples - if I have any left that is. We'll check that the night-flyers behaviour pattern is no different tonight, after the slight disturbance I caused them last night, then after they've gone, we'll have the place to ourselves. So whatever you fancy, wherever you fancy it - that's just what you can have. No chemical aids, just you and me together, as we are.'

'Mmm! Nice speech darling. Nice thoughts too. And I must say, I like the programme. Let's get on with it!'

So, she took the blood samples and prepared them for the seemingly insatiable mini-lab. We cleaned up the remnants of our meal and took a refresher together - resisting the temptation that our nakedness obviously aroused in me and, from Mierka's actions, in her too - slipped into 'something comfortable' and went outside to wait for the arrival of the night-flyers.

They came. They ate. They squawked, flew, fucked and left!

In short, from what we observed, my contretemps with two of their flock the previous night seemed to have had no affect on their general behaviour patterns.

We remained in our hide in the dunes for some time after the last night-flyer had left, sitting quietly, neither saying a word, thinking our own thoughts. Above us the stars wheeled silently along their ages-old paths, around us the trees slowly, imperceptibly continued producing whatever it was that stirred the night-flyers - and I'm sure that Mierka felt much the same way as I did. We were intruders, we had learned something that had been known only to those creatures that needed to know, we had no part to play in the drama that we had glimpsed, had no way of knowing the place of this brief scene in the full story of the planet to which we were merely transitory tourists.

I reached for her hand. 'Let's go darling.' I whispered unnecessarily - and saw her just nod her response. We almost crept back up the slope, past the dome, over the crest of the dune and, as the sound of the breaking surf broke the spell, I felt her arm slip around my waist and together we ran down towards the beach below.

But, whether by accident or design we never quite made the beach, half way down one or other of us faltered, tripped and fell, pulling the other down after them - down on to the soft, yielding slope of the dune. A tangle of arms, legs and bodies quickly turned into a single-minded, loving pair.

True to what I had proposed earlier when I said - 'I thought a heavy work-out might help to burn-off whatever residual effects the stuff might be having on us.' - we did our very best to cleanse our systems of whatever traces of the fruit there might still have been circulating inside us. Afterwards we slowly made our way back to the dome and slept soundly until the following morning.

I woke first and without disturbing Mierka, slipped out of the dome to check on my own bit of research before she woke. Many of the fruit samples I had prepared the previous day had simply gone bad, turned unpleasant shades of brown or already started to rot but some that I had dried, using an accelerated form of sun-drying still seemed to be in fair condition. Of course without running them through the mini-lab I had no way of knowing whether or not the active component had been preserved too and, I couldn't do that because I couldn't let Mierka know what I was doing.

The quarantine laws are strict and thank heavens they are, even with their protection there have been enough weird bugs introduced to various planets, without them we'd all have been in real trouble before now. Mierka's job made her even more sensitive to those laws, even a hint of suspicion that she had tried shipping material from one place to another without the necessary authority, extreme security precautions, and correct paper-work would mean the end of her career. So she mustn't know that I was planning on doing exactly that - smuggling out several small pieces of our fruit - taking them home with us.

It wasn't that I didn't have faith in the information stored in the mini-lab or that the more powerful equipment in her laboratory might not be able to reproduce whatever chemical structure actually did the trick - but just in case, as a sort of insurance, in case everything else failed - I wanted us to have some of the original fruit for her to work on too. There was too much at stake to risk failure.

So, selecting the pieces that looked the most promising, I carefully wrapped and sealed them in an air-tight container and put it amongst the bundle of used clothing, then began to prepare breakfast for us both.

The smell of cooking woke Mierka.

'Morning lover!' I said softly as she turned over and peered at me through sleep-tousled hair. 'Breakfast, a quick swim - and then I'm all yours!' I added, grinning down at her as I saw a smile brighten her face at the thought of what the day's activities were to involve for us both. Of course first she had to check the mini-lab's processing and when she had looked through the various screens of data I was pleased to see her satisfied look.

'Looking good darling?' I asked.

But, in reply. 'Looking very good lover.' Was all I could get out of her. As she said over breakfast - her work had already taken up far too much of our holiday, today was our day and, having made sure all was well, she wasn't even going to think about the mini-lab again. Simply enjoy sharing the effects of eating the fruit - and making a few notes as we did that of course.

So having eaten we went for a long walk on the beach and as the day grew warmer, finished off with a swim before returning to the dome and beginning Mierka's series of stepped trials. She sent me down to the orchard for fresh fruit and while I was gone prepared a couple of screen-pads for us to make notes on, so we could record how we felt as the trials progressed. On my return she cut the fruit up into carefully weighed pieces and because of the difference in the mass of our bodies, made mine slightly larger than hers.

We sat down, checked the time and ate our first, small piece. We knew from both watching the night-flyers as well as from our own previous experience that the stuff took a bit of time to get into the system - but when, after half an hour nothing had happened, we ate a second - and waited again. It was another fifteen minutes before I felt the first tingling prickle, in my hands of all places - a bit like pins and needles. I noted my reaction and after about another five minutes Mierka said she could also feel it, the same reaction.

Again we waited, the progression was so subtle that from minute to minute it was impossible to notice a difference but after another ten minutes I became aware that the prickling sensation had reached my crotch - and five minutes later, Mierka said her pussy was beginning to respond too. But when, after another quarter of an hour nothing further had happened and I felt sure that the sensations were actually fading, we each ate a third piece of fruit.

Our response time was much shorter, within five minutes I felt my fingers prickling and, very soon after that, a feeling very similar to the one I had felt the first time, like small electric currents running through my skin - and as before they were heading straight for my crotch. I waited a while, making sure that I was actually feeling what I thought I was - that it wasn't just my imagination, or my wishful thinking.

But there was no way I could put the erection I was then beginning to develop, down to wishful thinking!

I looked across at Mierka and saw that her pupils were already dilated and noticed that her breathing had already become shallower, faster.

'Started?' I asked. My voice obviously broke through whatever feelings she was experiencing, she nodded and quickly keyed something into her screen-pad, which reminded me to up-date my own too.

'Yes.' she answered when she'd finished. 'It's interesting. At the moment I have a feeling that's similar to when we've been cuddling for a while, when you've been squeezing my breasts or my bottom. I'm aroused, getting ready for sex - but it's a low level arousal, a nice sexy feeling, not urgent, not demanding. How are you feeling?'

'Much the same. I've been feeling like that for a few minutes now. Talking about it sort of lessens it I think - or maybe it's fading again. I'm not really sure - but it might be.'

'Oh I hope not, this is nice - I'd like to keep feeling just this way for a long time.'

But in my own mind I was sure I was right, the feeling was diminishing, not growing and I keyed that into the screen-pad then, I waited, watching Mierka carefully. After another couple of minutes she made more notes too, then looked up and confirmed my suspicions.

'You're right. It's going again. We'll need at least one more piece each, that's four.'

Again we sat quietly, each thinking their own thoughts, monitoring their own reactions. And again the response time was quicker, in less than two minutes I was back where I had been - my arousal growing, an erection developing - but this time it went on, getting stronger, not plateauxing, I felt my cock continuing to get stiffer, thickening, lengthening, the need inside me growing by the second.

I found myself looking at the various curves of Mierka's body, my mind stripping her, seeing the actual full roundness of her breast, its rose-red tip swelling between my lips as I gently sucked on it. Hearing the little moans of pleasure she made as I did that, feeling her legs parting, exposing her sex, making herself available for my fingers and then my cock.

The prickling sensations were still growing stronger, lacing the surface of my body with their inter-locking paths, growing in strength as they merged and got closer to my crotch. My cock felt quite hot, throbbing as it continued growing, the pressure of my clothes beginning to feel a little uncomfortable. My balls swelling, just starting to ache. My mouth dry, my palms damp.

I got up and stripped and as I freed my cock it sprang out, quivering and, as blood continued pulsing into it, jerking higher, getting bigger, its head darker, glossier. My head was full of nothing but thoughts of sex, of Mierka's body, sprawled out, offering herself up to me, crying out for me, needing me as much as I needed her, begging me to fuck her.

Looking down I saw her staring up at me, her unblinking eyes focussed on my cock, intently watching it's jerky growth, her hands down between her thighs, clutched tightly against herself.

I went over to her, helped her up and then to strip, as we stood there, close together I felt the coolness of her fingers enclosing the hot length of me, then brushing my cock-head from side to side across the softness of her belly, sending jolts of pleasure racing back through me.

As the need inside us slowly grew we caressed, our hands running lightly over each other's body, creating pleasure-sparks as hands and fingers wandered here and there, tracing patterns, outlining curves, probing crevices. Our moans of pleasure interspersed with sharp gasps and hisses of excitement as each found the other's particularly sensitive spots.

All the time the pressure of the need grew stronger - sex, what had been an arousing thought, was becoming an urgent necessity - now my mind pictured my cock driving hard into her, moving faster as release came closer.

Then her voice broke through the pictures that were reeling through my head. 'Come, lie down Slate!' she said as she virtually pulled me through to the sleep-pad area. I stretched out, looking up at her, seeing how stiffly swollen her nipples had become and, as she stepped astride my legs, how moistly pink her pouting sex was.

By then my cock was so incredibly hard that she didn't even need to hold it steady as she lowered herself, pressing firmly down, slowly impaling herself on it. The sensations were fantastic - although she was slick from her own arousal she was still tight and the size that my cock had swollen to made it feel even tighter still and I heard myself groan with sheer pleasure as her pussy-lips slid slowly down the entire, throbbing length of me until I felt her arse resting on my thighs.




Sex in Sci-Fi Ch. 03



Having used me to fill herself she rested there for a moment, then leaning slightly forwards and balancing herself by holding on to me, she began to move and I heard her moaning with her own pleasure as she began to rise and fall.

Looking up from the sight of my cock disappearing up into her I saw how flushed her face had become and, as she threw back her head, how the veins in her neck stood out like whip-cords. Unable to resist the impulse I reached up and began to caress her breasts, feeling the hardness of her nipples between my fingers and, as I rolled and squeezed them, heard her groan louder and felt her grind herself down even harder on to me in response.

Then gradually her actions became more urgent, the slow rise and fall giving way to harder, sharper movements and I sensed that her need was growing fast and as her body responded even more strongly, I heard her breathing turn to a series of explosive grunts.

Her climax came suddenly! One moment she was riding me, the next - the ride had become a bolting gallop and she let out a deafening shriek as she drove her body frenziedly up and down and I felt the convulsing folds of her pussy gripping me tight as she arched backwards, reaching behind herself and grabbing hold of my legs for support. Looking down again I saw my rock-hard shaft driving up into her, her pussy-lips were by then thickly swollen and had become a dark, glistening red colour and I could see the raw, swollen nub of her clit poking out from amongst the dark mass of hair that surrounded it.

While continuing to squeeze and fondle one breast I let go of the other and slid my hand down and, reaching forward between her thighs, lightly brushed the flat tip of one finger over the hard ridge of it - and as I did that she finally went high over the top!

She rammed herself down so hard that it felt as though she was stripping the skin from my cock. And with such ferocity that she almost immediately brought on my own climax. Every muscle in my body locked tight, arching my hips, thrusting my cock even higher, driving it deep into her cunt. Then, in a massive surge, the first load of semen erupted, scorching hard and deep into her - quickly followed by another, and another as my body heaved convulsively. 

Yet massive though it was for both of us, for me at least the effect of the fruit had not been totally exhausted and as the power of Mierka's climax lessened and she fell forwards and rested on her hands and knees, I slid out from under her and moved around to kneel behind her. then slipped my still fully engorged cock between her thighs and guided it back into her sopping pussy.

The second climax was longer in coming and nowhere near as powerful as the first, but just as exciting and in some ways far more satisfying, and afterwards, as we lay locked in each other's arms, we shared and compared the feelings we had each experienced.

Both of us had felt the same slow, prickling arousal and both had found themselves visualising the sexuality of the other's body. Mierka found that she was unable to think of anything but my cock, as it had been that first time, monstrously erect, glistening, pulsating - and that as that image remained fixed in her sight, so her body began to get more and more sexually aroused.

'The component seems to work at two levels. On both the mind and the body.' she said. 'The mental thing reinforces what is happening physiologically. It's an amazing combination!'

'So are the results lover.' I answered, squeezing her even more tightly.

She chuckled happily. 'You'll get no argument from me on that. How are you feeling now though?'

'Fine. Funnily enough I don't even feel tired. Quite the reverse actually. Pepped up.'

'Me too. I'm beginning to think that there's a secondary effect from the fruit, I don't know whether it's from the same component that stimulates the sex drive or whether it's another one altogether. I must do some work on that too.'

'Not now you won't.'

'Why darling?'

I grinned and answered. 'Because right now I'm ordering up another couple of pieces and we'll see what happens after that.'

She laughed and I saw that wicked twinkle in her eyes again. 'Such dedication to science ought to be rewarded.'

It was! Within a few minutes we were both ready to go again - and we did, not with the same frenzy as we just had but with just as much pleasure and even more satisfaction. And after that bout we did in fact sleep a while, not so much from exhaustion, more for the sheer enjoyment of relaxing snugly together.

*

Chapter 6

The Joys of Research

When I woke and checked the time I saw that I had slept through until early evening, Mierka's place beside me was empty and when I got up I found that she was working.

'So, how are the results of the trials looking?' I asked as she looked up and smiled at me.

'Fine lover, fine. You slept well?'

'Out like a light.'

'How do you feel?'

'Great, just great. And you?'

'Likewise. And I don't just feel well, I am well - much better than when we arrived here. The tests prove it, somehow the components do a clean-up job on us as well as making us sexy. It doesn't just make us feel good, it actually does us good. It's incredible!'

'So we needn't feel guilty about taking it?'

'No, it's therapeutic. Were you feeling guilty?' she asked anxiously.

I grinned cheekily and answered. 'No way. But I'm glad I haven't got to, just in case I sometime might. How about the other aspects, dosage, stuff like that?'

'I don't have the complete answers because I can't isolate the specific molecule or set of molecules that is the active one, we'll have to wait until I can get the data fed into the equipment at work for that. But as to the fruit itself, yes - it looks as though there is a short-span, cumulative effect and the amount per kilo of body-weight appears to be virtually identical for male or female. Although I got the feeling at the time and that seems to be confirmed by our notes on the screen-pads, that my response was a bit slower than yours.'

'But just as strong in the end?'

'I'd say so. At least so far as any one person can tell, without being able to flip into someone else's mind to compare reactions it's hard to be definite.'

We found we were both unusually hungry and having prepared a meal for ourselves we continued to talk as we ate, about our deeper feelings to what the stuff in the fruit had done to us and about the work Mierka still had ahead of her when we got home. As we were finishing the meal, I asked her what she planned to do with the results when she had completed everything.

'Publish them of course. It will be sensational, in spite of all the marvellous things we've been able to discover and develop nobody has ever been able to formulate a true aphrodisiac, yet here it is, in nature.' she answered excitedly.

'And bang goes the island, the night-flyers and who knows what else.' I said seriously.

That stopped her, I could see her thinking through what I'd said and knew she understood exactly what would happen. Assuming the fruit on this island was unique in its strength, if not its property, as we thought - while the chemists were developing and getting the necessary approvals for a man-made duplication of the component, someone would quickly put up the cash to harvest the place, rape it for a quick profit.

'So what do you suggest Slate. What's the alternative, forget it? Someone else will come here, sooner or later. The information will get out.'

'Probably later rather than sooner darling. As you saw at the resort, most tourists prefer to stick close to their creature comforts, a day or two out on the nearer islands is one thing, the numbers coming out as far as we have would be pretty small. And there are so many hundreds of islands that the chance of someone coming to this one is pretty remote. We certainly wouldn't have if you hadn't brought your mini-lab along with us, we would have had no reason, we'd have put our extra sexual activity to being just the result of being away from the pressures of life - as we did at first.

My idea is to go commercial - with a man-made substitute I mean.' I added as I saw her about to disagree with me. 'We get home and finish your tests without saying anything to anyone, isolate the component, make sure it's duplicatable, test it ourselves, then go through the rigmarole of the bureaucratic approvals - after you've patented it. We need never mention this place at all, no one need ever know where or how you found it, put it down to inspiration, a stroke of genius, whatever you like - but that way we leave the island and the night-flyers in peace.'

'I need to think about that Slate, you're assuming a lot you know. We don't know for sure that the answers will be so easy to find, even with the laboratory's equipment, I'm not sure I could do too much work without anyone knowing just what I'm up to, or that I have the skills to develop a replicate myself.'

'Take your time but just think about the alternative too - if we don't do that you either have to say nothing at all and hope that someone doesn't stumble on this place too soon, or see it vanish in less than a year - because that's what will happen, isn't it?'

She nodded miserably, knowing some men's continuing capacity for getting a quick profit regardless of the consequences. 'You're right, I know you're right. Just let me think about it all, give me a bit of time.'

'Would you like to be alone for a bit?'

'I think that mightn't be a bad idea. Would you mind?'

'Of course not, I'll stretch my legs on the beach.'

As I left the dome I quite absentmindedly picked up a piece of fruit from the table and was about to bite into it when I realised what I was doing and shoved it in my pocket instead.

It was a wonderful night, the sky a deep black velvet, the stars burning through it in fierce pin-points of brilliance, but of course there were no constellations I could recognise. I slipped down the dune and on to the firmer sand beside the gently breaking sea and began to walk, letting my mind drift wherever it fancied, but as I walked I felt the piece of fruit in my pocket banging rhythmically against me.

'What would my reaction be, without Mierka beside me?' I found myself wondering. The other times, she had been there and my mind had been filled with pictures of her, would they re-play, or would something or someone else take her place? Perhaps I could find out if I took just a small bite, just enough to start the process going. After all - 'It was in the interests of science.' - I said to myself, as I pulled the fruit out and looked at it. 'Just a small bite.' I said aloud, then bit into it.

Either I misjudged the size of the bite I had taken or the short-span cumulative effect Mierka had mentioned had a longer time-span than I thought she meant.

As before, I first became aware of the pleasant tingling feelings running through my skin then the prickling sensations, which converged on my crotch, and my cock slowly responding by thickening and lengthening. During the minutes that took to happen I slipped out of my clothes and walked down to the edge of the sea, standing there, looking out across its darkly polished surface, letting the small wavelets break over my feet as the refreshing evening breeze blew lightly over my body.

I was staring up at the stars and while one part of my mind was trying to decide which of those I could see was actually the brightest, with another I could tell that the prickling sensations running up and down the shaft, around the head and over and through my balls was gradually growing in intensity. As it grew steadily stronger and stronger the importance of grading the stars diminished and then vanished - its place being taken by an increasingly powerful feeling of a need for sex.

The next few minutes were quite bewildering, it was as though my brain had spun into re-play mode, projecting a series of flickering images - perhaps for me to choose from. Some I recognised as being repeats of actual events, others as being brief excerpts from various fantasies I had created for myself at different times. And after those came scenes I knew I had neither experienced nor dreamed of, and those were the most powerfully erotic of all.

Naturally the love-making Mierka and I had shared came first, my mind combining two particular occasions into one experience - the way I had felt on our first night on Seltire, when I saw her in that skin-tight outfit - blending that with the first wildly uncontrolled session that had been powered by the effect of the fruit. Then recalling earlier times, some of which my conscious mind had quite forgotten, memories from our first years together, when either out of bravado or sheer urgency we had sometimes made love in strange or exciting situations.

Then, I found Mierka being replaced by other women, women I recognised, women I had been attracted to - some I had actually had sex with, others that I hadn't, but wished I had. One particular woman featured in a number of scenes, a tall, pale blonde from Scania, that I had met quite soon after Mierka and I begun as a committed pair - who had made no attempt to disguise the fact that she wanted me, under almost any circumstances. She was so beautiful and so incredibly sexy I had been tempted almost beyond description, especially when, on one or two occasions she had nakedly flaunted herself in front of me, almost begging me to take her. In my imagination I was again tempted to do so and this time, began to - recklessly, fiercely - only to see her return a few scenes later for more.

It quickly became quite clear that I was being even more strongly aroused by the images that were based on my or my brain's fantasies than I had been by the recall of actual events - and as the fantasies continued to become even more fantastic so the need inside me rose higher and higher. 

I found myself fucking or being fucked by women of all races and colours, singly, in pairs, in groups - and in places and circumstances I couldn't normally have even dreamed of. On the flight deck of the ship that had brought us to Seltire, fucking the female pilot's gorgeous arse, as she brought the ship down through the planet's outer atmosphere. Her screams of pleasure providing the sound effects for the clouds that streamed soundlessly past the ship. Floating in some warmly scented pool, my head between a pair of incredibly silky thighs, avidly licking one of the prettiest pussies I had ever seen - while, in the water beneath me, I was having my cock exquisitely sucked by another, unknown but very expert woman. Cavorting on a room-sized bed with what appeared to be an entire class from a girls' high-school, somehow knowing that many of the girls were still virgins and that my objective was to fuck each one - and then identify those that had been.

And there were many, many more - each one more powerfully arousing than the one before.

Yet somehow I was able to break out of the seemingly never-ending loop of images, bring myself back to what seemed to be reality and, looking down at my cock I saw that it was by then not only fully erect, but massively engorged. But, as I stared at it I saw that in spite of that, it was in fact still jerking upwards, its continuing growth powered by the blood still being pumped into it - and that the skin covering the swollen head was already so drum-tight that it reflected the dim star-light above me.

Then, looking up at the sky, I saw that the stars appeared to be shifting their positions, starting to move, and even as I stared up in fascination and they gradually increased their speed, I realised that my inner, sexual need was growing even stronger still. After a while I was able to make sense of what seemed to be happening to the stars - as they swirled around, spiralling about each other, they began to form a whirlpool, a whirlpool that span faster and faster. Then a section of the whirling mass formed itself into a funnel - a funnel of stars - that slowly began to writhe down out of the sky, towards me.

I stood still, quite unable to move as they came lower, some stars whirling around my head, while others span down around my body - some slipping through me, increasing the force of the sparking charges that continued to run down through my skin towards my crotch. Then, as though drawn by the forces inside, the stars became packed more tightly together, forming a smaller funnel - then the funnel shifted forward, fitting itself over my cock and balls.

Even as I felt the heat of the open end burning as it pressed up against my belly I felt the tube beginning to oscillate, expanding and contracting rhythmically - squeezing the entire length of my cock. As the sparks of fire whirled over and around it I felt as though the heat and energy of the stars was combining with and increasing what was already churning the reservoir of semen that had been building-up in my achingly swollen balls.

The need for release became totally overwhelming and as I felt my body tensing, pushing my cock deeper into the flickering, pulsating funnel and I gripped the cheeks of my arse tightly with both hands as even stronger shock waves coursed up into my brain. Through the whirling, twinkling stars I could just make out the shape of the shaft, it was huge, its surface a mass of knotted veins that were stretched to more than full capacity by the volume of blood surging inside them as the stars continued pulsing up and down its length, powerfully massaging and pumping it.

As the force inside me continued to mount I felt my entire body arching backwards, my hips thrusting my cock powerfully forward, then my balls tightening, drawing themselves hard up underneath the base of it. And as they did that the stars fired still more charges through them, super-heating the seething mass within, until, like a pressure-vessel venting, they blasted their contents up through the white-hot length of my surging shaft.

I watched, mesmerised, as the thick, creamy jet exploded out of me, out through the narrowing funnel, out across the blackness of the sea, to be immediately followed by another and another and still a fourth - the pleasure-centres in my head over-loaded by the sheer ecstasy surging through them - my body concentrating every ounce of its strength behind those searing bursts and shuddering at the force of those that followed them.

The shock of the feel of the cold water brought me back to reality and I found I had fallen to my knees, I was gasping for breath, my entire body shaking, I was totally spent, utterly drained by the force of what I had experienced. As I had that first time, I plunged out into the sea and swam as hard and as fast as I could, in an attempt to burn off whatever residual effect there might be, then, only when I felt I was on the verge of exhaustion, I ran back to the dome to dry - and add my experience, or at least a somewhat censored version of it, to Mierka's growing information bank.

She was fascinated by the fact that my brain had used not only my own memories and fantasies but had created others itself and that it had then used an external trigger to create a fantasy that was able to fulfil the needs of my body. She was also amazed at how strongly I had physically reacted to the experience - but I sensed a hint of more than scientific disappointment in her voice as she said.

'We may find that the intensity of the experience was so strong that it has dramatically reduced your ability to respond again tonight.'

'And then again we may find that it hasn't.' I responded, slipping my arm around her waist and pulling her into my arms. 'We'll just have to continue the trial, as we planned. Then we'll find out who is capable of what, won't we. But before we get around to that, have you decided what you think we ought to do?'




Sex in Sci-Fi Ch. 04



CHAPTER 4: FOOD OF THE GODS

The colony had spent the first six months tackling all the problems that any new group of settlers have no matter how well planned their settlement may be. Equipment shortages and malfunctions, injuries and sickness, unexpected extremes of conditions and a thousand and one variations on Murphy's Law, that had been found to be equally operative in any part of the galaxy.

Two hundred and forty seven couples made up the original settlement, arriving some seven years after the planet's original survey and eighteen months after fifteen assorted scientists had probed and prodded the place for another half year, looking for unforeseen problems.

Mated pairs were still preferred by officialdom for any settlement, even though statistics proved that almost half of them would change partners some time during the first few years. As no other type of settlement had been allowed there were of course no statistics to help the officials consider others.

During the first six months of sheer hard work and many frustrations there had been the usual and allowed for flurry of arguments, rows and storming-off-into-the-nights - but only two actual separations and these were of the to be expected, 'partner exchange' variety.

So, all was within the expected norm and officialdom was not perturbed.

Having survived the initial problems the community suddenly found life improving and some of the advertised pleasure of the new settlement began to be felt. There was time for exploration, relaxation and pursuit of a variety of personal hobbies and interests. A drama group sprang up, rock-hounds went off into the adjacent hills, botanists began searching for new species, gardeners began to cultivate a variety of flora and cooks developed recipes for the wide range of local foodstuffs.

Activities that were expected and indeed encouraged by those that scrutinised the community's development. As was also to be expected, there were several unfortunate deaths resulting from previously undocumented local hazards, within the statistically acceptable range of course.

Fifteen scientists for six months or so could not cover every inch of the planet - and authorities did not expect them to do so. Their job had been to add detail to the original survey, to draw up broad strategies for any terra-forming that might be necessary and to satisfy themselves that the place was essentially safe for human beings. They could not spend their limited and expensive time looking for every single poisonous plant or bug - the planet had been deemed 'safe', within normal statistical bounds.

So, as the settlers became more adventurous, accidental deaths were bound to occur - and had been allowed for in the long-term plans.

Following usual practice, the authorities sent inspectors and various officials on a regular basis, particularly during the first two years, which had been found to be the time during which most new settlements ran into trouble. Once past that critical period, assuming nothing untoward happened, it was expected that over ninety five percent of colonies would become self-sufficient and the planets were then opened up for general migration. From there on the individual planets were essentially on their own and began to mass-produce whatever resource had made it attractive to mankind in the first place.

Inspectors still visited of course, less frequently, depending in part on just how accessible the planet was and how attractive its off-duty offerings. Far-flung, rocky masses that were simply rich in ores being mined by predominantly male gangs tended to receive fewer official inspections than did resort worlds providing for a variety of pleasures of the flesh - after all, officials were still human.

So, with the first two years safely passed the settlers awaited their final inspection and clearance for full-scale development. The planet was to become a food source, its land was rich in a range of elements that suited a newly developed plant which, when processed provided a highly nutritious powder that could be shipped at low cost to the barren mining worlds, where it would be reconstituted into a variety of attractive foods.

The inspector who made the final assessment raised his eyebrows at certain aspects of the study he had made but, as the report form included no column suitable for what had roused his curiosity, he ignored and then forgot it.

Construction equipment, processing plants and the engineers to use them began arriving soon after the inspector's favourable report had been circulated. Followed by large-scale farming machinery and the people to use it, most came with their partners, intending to also settle on the newly opened world.

So human life and activity began to spread around the globe and life was full - satisfying work, healthy relaxation, good friends and neighbours, loving couples and of course babies began to be born, frequently.

Another year passed, seeds sown, crops grown, harvested, processed and shipped - even the initial results were better than the expert's most optimistic estimates; yields higher, losses lower, the nutritional values varying slightly from one part of the globe to another but consistently exceeding the upper limits of the biochemists' expectations. Reports continued to be written, distributed and mainly, filed. Things could well have gone along in that way for several more years if it hadn't been for one particular bureaucrat who had a passing interest in Sociology - and who actually looked at what the reports had not been reporting.

A comparison with reports from other settlements led to a casual conversation with a friend specialising in that field and that in turn led to an off the record meeting with one of the inspectors who had actually visited the planet. Her comments confirmed the validity of his nagging questions but gave him no answers, which resulted in several weeks of concern and indecision. Luckily the next scheduled survey was almost due and an unofficial conversation with the rostered inspector was able to be arranged.

Forms were prepared and distributed to the growing number of inhabitants, forms that had been modified, only slightly from the norm, time allowed for their completion and for the compilation of the data they contained - and the inspector left to complete the survey and her report.

It was her first visit and although she kept the senior bureaucrat's concerns in mind, her first reactions on arrival were that the man was making a mountain out of a mole-hill - the place was idyllic, a virtual paradise. The expressions on people's faces as she walked down the main street of the largest town confirmed her opinions, its people were obviously happy, caring and fulfilled.

However, once the major sections of the report were completed she turned her attention to the section of the returns that included the modified questions. She didn't have to check the results against the comparative tables - there was nothing to check, there was no data!

In all new settlements, during the first few years it had been found that up to half of the original settlers separated, re-grouped. Figures varied of course, depending on outside factors, such as size of settlement, ratio of sexes, ease of transport, etc. - but, on an essentially 'friendly' planet such as this, she would have expected to see around forty percent of the couples splitting, at least temporarily - but, other than those that had occurred during the early months, there were none!

It was unbelievable - impossible!

The data must be incorrect. The fools must have misread the forms or completed them incorrectly. Why?

So she made personal inquiries, discretely at first and then, in growing desperation more and more openly. There was no mistake, everyone she spoke to, everyone, was not only perfectly happy with their partner, they gave the distinct impression of being virtually besotted with them - and, so were all their friends and acquaintances with their partners. Now when she walked down the main street she saw a different picture - now everywhere she looked she saw the same couples, hand in hand, arm in arm, their faces positively glowing with expressions of mutual love. Now that she was seeing things with a different eye she found it almost embarrassing to be alone, she realised that seeing couples kissing and fondling each other in public was not uncommon and from time to time, in secluded places, there were many couples giving even more active demonstrations of their feelings for each other too!

Her report was transmitted and, as agreed a copy went to the bureaucrat who had first spotted the anomaly but, having had his suspicions confirmed, what was he to do next? There was no precedent - and he didn't know just what it was that he had found. A series of unofficial meetings followed, none of which seemed to be going anywhere, until, quite by chance a colleague made a casual, facetious remark.

"Maybe someone's spiking their drinks!"

A small team of specialists was quickly put together, briefed and shipped out. A biologist, a micro-biologist, two chemists of separate specialities, an endocrinologist and, just in case, another sociologist.

It took them and the teams they gathered around them four months to find the answer - but they found it.

The folk-lore had been right, there was such a thing as a love-potion, a true aphrodisiac - it was locked within the soil of the planet. Every living thing that was grown there contained it, only in minute quantities but the settlers had been giving themselves tiny doses every time they ate, right from the day they began to eat their first home-grown garden vegetables.

The scientists were elated by their findings, the more pragmatic saw the even greater prosperity that would flow from the commercial development and galaxy wide distribution of a refined product.

The sociologist blanched - he realised that already there were several thousand tons of highly concentrated food on its way to hundreds of widely scattered settlements, mining and heavy industry settlements - settlements populated virtually exclusively by men! 



Sex in Sci-Fi Ch. 05



PART 5: FIRST CONTACT

Chapter 1

The Scouts

The first meeting between human and alien has stirred the imagination of mankind since we first became aware of the true structure of the universe. There would be few writers of Sci-Fi who have not penned at least one version, many have created whole anthologies on the subject.

I'm no writer and maybe not too imaginative but though I dreamed of it a thousand times, I never came close to imagining just how that first time would be.

There were several hundred scout vessels identical to mine. Single crew, three to four months cruising capacity, light, fast - expendable. The overall plan was simple, a mother-ship, containing twenty scout ships, ferried us out at above light-speed, slowing to discharge us one at a time at pre-selected planetary systems. The course formed a vast circle, usually taking a little over three months to complete. So, soon after discharging the last scout the mother-ship began receiving those that had completed their survey. Our tour was for two years and so each mother-ship could survey up to seventy or so planetary systems during each tour.

The cost was of course enormous but then so were the potential rewards. With a rapidly expanding civilisation spreading out across the galaxy, new sources of every conceivable element were in constant demand. As were new homesites, manufacturing worlds, leisure resorts - and everything on an enormous scale.

Every scout paid a percentage of his or her earnings into a pooled fund, it was invested well and at that time was worth approximately two hundred and fifteen years' earnings to the winner. All you had to do to retire in consummate luxury was be the one who made the first contact with a sentient extra-terrestrial.

The government, officially not knowing about the fund, was offering a medal and an honorarium of some kind - needless to say, few of us were too worried about just how much that might have been. But, from time to time I did wonder what it would be like to be turned over-night into the most famous person in the galaxy, be interviewed on every Teev channel and be flooded with offers of every kind, some hopefully from long-legged blondes!

The blondes I felt sure I could handle. In fact during a two year tour out there, on the very edges of nothing, I spent a great deal of time thinking about the details of just how I would handle them, and them me!

I usually ended up deciding that if I had a choice or the opportunity I'd pass-up on the fame, just take the fortune and run. And I knew exactly where I was going to run to, a relatively recently opened planet that was still in the terra-forming stage and was ultimately destined to become another resort world. I knew I could buy into the place for a reasonable amount, buy myself a big enough area, maybe an island, have it fixed up with every luxury I'd ever be likely to want, and still have enough left over to ensure a regular flow of visiting blondes.

Between exploring, tripping, fishing and satisfying my visitors, and myself, I couldn't think of a better way of life.

But of course first I had to meet, and prove I had met, that first alien. The argument still raged, as it had for centuries, as to whether or not Old and New-Earth were the only planets to produce life, sentient life that is. Many scouts had found planets on which life existed, life in a variety of forms, shapes and sizes, but so far, in spite of a flurry of claims and much publicity, that one word had shut-out a string of hopefuls, the extra terrestrial must be 'sentient' and none so far had been.

I admit that there were times when I felt that the argument in favour of us ever making contact seemed to be getting weaker the further we probed, but then on the other hand we hadn't yet made it any further than our own nearby sector. But then if I was to be the one to succeed I didn't want it to be when I was too old to fully enjoy the fruits of discovery. So I continued my tours, checked out each planet according to the procedures laid down and spent a lot of time fantasising about long-legged blondes in impossible positions.

*

Chapter 2

Sam

The star system was not particularly impressive, a standard group of planets and their satellite moons. Seventeen planets that ranged in size from around two-thirds the size of Jupiter down to something similar to the mass of Mars, a total of fourteen moons were also detectable. Assuming that was it, I had thirty-one surveys to make, of which four would probably be major and the rest standard.

A standard survey really meant I switched the ship over to auto and played some music, or with myself for a few hours. The ship and its sensors took all the data and flashed it to the marker beacon left at my pick-up point, where it was stored in case anything happened to me.

A major survey could theoretically be done the same way but a human pilot had produced additional and valuable results so often that it was still worth the enormous cost of using us. Combots, as our ships were known, were certainly good but there is still something about the human mind, I don't know if it's curiosity or just the ability to make creative mental leaps that they so far just haven't been able to duplicate in machinery. So, major surveys of the most promising planets were still done with a mix of combot and human.

We all had program modifications, as well as names, for our combots. At that time mine was called Sam, short for Samantha, not Samuel, and she was programmed to be warm, bright, not too chatty, and to adore me! I had planned to do a bit more work on her voice, it was terrific when we were relaxing, husky and with just a hint of a lisp, which I found really sexy, but sometimes, when we were working on technical stuff it was just a little bit off-putting.

The procedures made various recommendations about survey sequences, dependant on the number, size and spatial relationship of systems. Naturally these were designed to provide for the maximum number of flash communications to the beacon, just in case of accidents. It wouldn't do to have half the surveys done only to lose the lot because the scout-ship had vanished while still being unable to transmit because of the bodies shielding it from the beacon. But in reality they didn't police those too much, after all we were there, the administrators weren't.

So, as usual I decided to work my way out from the centre of the system, it cost a bit more in energy but usually saved me time, if Sam got her maths right, and that was something she always did.

'Sam!'

'Hi Jake! Lost in thought for a while there weren't you.'

'Planning strategy Sam.'

'That makes a change from blondes!'

'No cheek now, duty calls.'

'Yes Sir! On your orders, Sir!'

'That's better. See if we can go for a basic, outbound slingshot please.'

'Give me a couple of minutes Jake. Processing. By the way, number six looks interesting, even from here.'

If Sam said something looked interesting you could bet money on the fact that there would be some sort of gold-mine waiting for you. So I swung round to the data banks and their view screens.

'O.K. Sam, show me please.'

The central screen bank showed a series of magnified images of planet number six, seen via various techniques including infra-red, ultra-violet, x-ray, etc. and all with colour enhancement for vegetation, fluids, minerals, gases, etc. And Sam had several hundred different ways of analysing all that data, but even before she had done any of that what I saw in front of me was in itself sufficiently interesting.

The planet's mass was about twenty percent greater than Old-Earth's, which was still the informal reference used by nearly everyone, even though ninety nine point nine, nine percent of humanity had never been within light years of that system. The atmosphere was breathable, though there seemed to be a bit too much methane to be really comfortable for more than short periods. Oxygen and carbon dioxide levels were almost spot-on, and though the gravity would make things a bit tiring it wouldn't be impossible to manage.

All in all, once we landed I should be able to walk about a bit, albeit a little sluggishly, and finding a planet where you were able to do that was a bonus in itself.

'Great stuff Sam, walkies for Jake!'

'Yes, that will be good for you, but it's not what I meant.'

I looked more closely at the screens. Sam loved getting one-up on me, which wasn't really too hard for her of course, and it took me a few minutes to see what she meant. But then, using infra-red, I spotted it, high up in the northern hemisphere, at the edge of a secondary land mass, it was very small, but quite distinct, a hot spot!

All sorts of thoughts collided with each other inside my head, and on that occasion not one of them was about blondes. Excitement, danger, curiosity, possible causes, some dull and uninteresting, like volcanoes, and there, way up at the back of my mind, almost drowned out by all the other, the thought that this might, just might, be it - contact!

I tried very hard to keep that thought under strict control by concentrating on any thoughts based on danger and swept the area with a variety of scan-types, trying hard to find a more logical reason for the hot spot.

'There is a very good chance that it's an ion-drive unit Jake.'

Sam's matter-of-fact statement undid all the good I had been able to do to stifle that rogue thought and I tried, not very successfully to hold back the excitement that bubbled up inside me.

'Thanks Sam. That's an interesting analysis. What other options please?'

'It's not a volcano or other, known natural phenomenon. There is a very high, very localised ionisation occurring and though the distance is still too great, the indications are that there is a small concentration of highly refined, metallic compounds, the mass is about three times that of this combot. Based on the data I have at the moment there is an eighty five percent chance that it is a space craft, of unknown origin.'

I exhaled hard, realising that while Sam had been talking I had been holding my breath.

'Regulations on initial, possible contact with an alien life-form require....'

'Not just now Sam. Don't flash just yet. Give me a minute or two please.'

I thought quickly.

One of the reasons for flashing on the very first suspicion of a possible encounter was the age-old fear of an aggressive, alien life-form that would immediately set-out to obliterate all traces of humanity, and what was left of other life forms that had originated on Old and New-Earth. The beacon of course provided no reference to its originating point and carried a cute little self-destruct program that would activate under certain conditions.

Theoretically, a 'contact' flash to a beacon triggered it to flash all of its stored data to another beacon, it to a third and so on until everything was retrieved by the mother-ship. As each beacon self-destructed after its transmission there was little chance of the aliens tracking the recipient, and if they did, then it was the mother-ship that would be lost, not humanity itself.

Meanwhile of course, the original scout was left very much alone, with nothing but the aliens for company. And that was one reason why I had instructed Sam to wait, I didn't fancy being that much alone, not yet anyway, not until I'd had time to think.

'Slow our approach and find us a place to hide, a planet or moon to shield us, from both the beacon and the hot spot, and keep us as far out in the system as possible please Sam'

I sensed the combot changing course and increasing speed slightly then slowing again and, knowing Sam had us on course for a safe hiding place, left her to do that while I called-up the appropriate regulations. Not that I really needed them, I and every other scout knew them by heart. I had already broken the first, which required me to flash all available data at the first moment of identification, even if I thought it was caused by just an insignificant virus buried in rock. But then regulations were fine until the real thing came along.

To be honest, I was more scared than I had been for a long, long time, and there had been quite a few really scary times over the years. I suppose the analysts would have put it down to 'culture shock', was it really happening, was homo sapiens finally going to confront another, sentient life-form? And was I going to be homo sapiens' representative!

If I was, what would they be like? Aggressive monsters that would see me as nothing more than just a tasty snack between meals? Or would they be so advanced that they'd merely 'think' me out of existence?

I realised I was sitting there, shaking uncontrollably and took a mental grip of myself.

'Sorry Sam. What's new?'

'Ionisation activity has ceased, only residual traces left in the local atmosphere, dispersing rapidly. Object is stationary, at surface level. Sensor trace will cease in twelve point four secs. Comms link to beacon has not been available for two point six secs. Course allows for shielding from both beacon and hot-spot for two point five hours. All functions appear normal Jake, but maintenance checks of transmission capacity are giving me cause for concern, there is something there I do not yet understand...'

'Over two hours to think about what to do next. Should be enough.' I thought to myself.

'O.K., continue routine maintenance checks, we aren't planning on transmitting just for the moment Sam. Assuming it is contact, what are the chances they spotted us Sam.' I asked after a bit of silent thinking.

'Hard to say without more data Jake. We've no idea just how advanced they are, given how far out we were and that the ion drive would have created interference I would have had trouble and there's only about a five percent chance I'd have picked us up. But, we can't be sure.'

Which tallied with the thoughts I'd had.

'O.K. What I'd like is a survey route that ideally starts at planet six but which takes us in from here on a course that shields us from the beacon for as long as possible and, as we get closer in, from the hot spot too. See what you can do please Sam.'

That was the kind of problem Sam was really designed for, complex astro-gation using maths I didn't even understand and which gave me a headache just to think about, but Sam revelled in it. So while she number-crunched, I ate and as I did I gave myself the luxury of actually thinking about the fund, and just what it would really mean to be that rich.

Of course by total human standards even that amount of money wouldn't be enough to put me in the super-rich category, there were families and individuals with ten, a hundred times that much wealth, but it would certainly be more money than I could spend in my lifetime and would enable me to do virtually anything I wanted to. What did I want to do with it? After that initial period, when I would be setting-up a place to live and cavorting with a series of long-legged blondes.

I'd spent so long scouting that it was hard to imagine anything else. I had friends of course, but they were nearly all 'in the business' in one way or another. Did I want a home, in the true sense of the word, with a permanent partner, children, assuming we got a licence, and everything that went with that kind of life? No more long trips away, no more months on my own, even no more Sam!

They were questions I just wasn't equipped to answer and at the back of my mind I found myself thinking that maybe contact and the fund itself were not such good ideas after all! I brought myself back to reality, that I could deal with I thought.

'How are things Sam?'

'Course plotted Jake, ten point six hours to atmosphere entry.'

Sam knew very well that I rarely had any interest in the detail of how she would get us from where we were to where we were going and therefore edited out all the technical stuff when talking to me, and on the odd occasions when it was necessary she was still able to bring the maths down to my level of understanding.

'Ten hours. Time for sleep and some breakfast, eh Sam.'

'Yes Jake, plenty of time. Exciting isn't it!'

'I suppose so, possibly dangerous too.'

'I understand that Jake. But it's still exciting!'

Combots couldn't, or so they kept assuring us, actually 'feel' emotions of course. But a range of responses corresponding to human emotions were programmed into them, as Sam was, at one level at least, a female, her responses were tinged with a number of what were classically described as being more feminine. A complex subject and one which had caused all sorts of argument down through time, but although many disagreed, most of us still found comfort in identifying certain emotions more feminine, others, more masculine. And the suppressed excitement I heard in Sam's voice was, to me at least, very definitely feminine.

'If you are right about all this, you'll be famous Sam.'

'You too Jake - and you'll be rich.'

'True. I'm not sure I'll handle that part too well, so we'll forget the fund.'

'O.K. But there'll be a string of blondes in it for you too.'

I chuckled. Sam of course knew more about my private sexual habits than even a permanent partner would. She 'shared' the times when I relieved myself while watching a vid-disc or simply lay in my bunk, masturbating to some fantasy or other. Sometimes she even augmented those, whispering sexily to me as I slowly pumped myself to a climax. So I couldn't hide anything from her, not for too long anyway!

'Probably true Sam. That's the part I think I can handle. Speaking of which - I think a little relaxation is probably a good idea, help me sleep better don't you think.'

'I agree Jake. Any particular vid-disc - or would you like me to choose one for you?'

'You choose Sam. I'll tidy up a bit and then have a refresher.'

The one thing neither of us had discussed was the Log, Sam had an automatic one of course, I was supposed to key-in my own every few hours. I hadn't done so since just before we entered the system, and until I was sure one way or the other about just what was on planet six, didn't really want to. So I did everything but that, then had a quick refresher and slipped into my bunk.

As I lay down Sam lowered the lights and started up a vid-disc, she'd picked one of my favourites of course, and it was one that she sometimes augmented for me, shutting off parts of the audio and replacing it with her own words during certain sequences. I sometimes wondered if she actually experienced some kind of 'pleasure' from seeing my reactions to her performance.

It was a simple enough story, a scout meets a girl towards the end of his period of leave, they have good times together, some memorable love-making, then he has to go back on duty. There are tearful farewells and he's gone. Then we see him alone in his combot, he's missing her, remembering the good times they'd had, especially the great fucking and we see him trying to forget her by watching vid-discs - which gives the suppliers a chance to preview other tapes of course. Then, while he's struggling towards a not very satisfactory climax, she appears, she's stowed away on the combot. That's just not possible of course but it's fiction after all and they explain it away reasonably well. Anyway, once back together again, and with nothing else much to do for some weeks, they have a ball, a series of balls actually!

That time Sam played the girl's part, removing the actresses voice completely, which of course made the scenes on board the combot even more life-like for me. So, even with the thought of what might be happening to me in a few hours roaming around inside my head, it wasn't too long before I'd pumped myself to a fantastic climax, and then simply fallen asleep.




Sex in Sci-Fi Ch. 05



*

Chapter 3

Contact

Sam let me sleep for a full eight hours, she knew me well enough to know that although I can manage with less, a full quota gives me an edge, and it seemed probable that I'd need that during the hours ahead of us. She had a light breakfast ready and let me stay in the refresher for two cycles, after which I felt ready to take on just about anything the galaxy could throw at us.

'Report please Sam.'

'De-accelerating in nine point two minutes, atmospheric entry, forty five minutes. Transmission links still a concern but I need to test them to trace the error or fault. Updated analysis of planet six now available. Shall I give you that when you're ready for de-acceleration?'

'Yes please Sam. Give me a reminder in, oh, seven minutes please, and scrub the idea of a transmission test for a while, just in case.'

'Will do Jake.'

I fixed up the few things that had to be done before de-acceleration and atmospheric entry and was in fact ready before Sam's call. As I settled myself into the recliner and felt the restrainers press me firmly down into it, Sam's voice calmed whatever nervous reaction might have been about to set in.

'De-acceleration begins in two minutes Jake. Shall I give you the up-date on planet six now?'

'Just a brief verbal on the atmosphere for now please Sam, I'll get the rest from you a little later.'

'O.K. Briefly, you are clear for walkies, but you'll need a light suit.'

The reference to a light suit meant that the composition of the atmosphere posed no actual danger to me but that I might find it unpleasant, the light suit didn't provide me with total life support but included filtration and back-up air supply.

'Methane Sam?'

'Yes, it's a bit on the nose Jake.'

'O.K. get the suit and the dog checked and ready please Sam.'

The 'dog' was a personal joke between Sam and I. It was in fact an extension of her functions that scouts took with them whenever they left the ship. It provided access to on-board data and to many of the ship's operational controls. It could also provide quite a few useful services, if the scout got into difficulties of one sort or another and, if the worst came to the worst the ship could home itself in on it. So, because it was so friendly and always accompanied me when I went for 'walkies' it seemed only natural to call it the 'dog'.

'I already have Jake. Tell me, have you thought about a name for planet six?'

'A name? Why Sam?'

'Well if we, I mean if you do actually make contact here there'll have to be a name, for the Teev channels if nothing else. After all they can't go calling it planet six of system C49.806-922, can they?'

She was right of course, we'd have to think of a name, that was one of the few perks a scout had, if you found a planet with any sort of potential, you had the right to name it. Well to submit a name for someone's approval actually. But most of the time they were given the O.K and I had already named a couple of mining worlds. But this was different, this would be big-time, historic, and as Sam said, if we did make contact, the planet and its name would be remembered for hundreds, maybe thousands of years.

I'd have to come up with something really good - I couldn't just call it 'Jake's-world' or something equally dumb. I needed to come up with a name that had a real ring to it.

I was still thinking about that, when Sam gave me something else to think about.

'You'll need something to say too Jake.'

'What do you mean Sam?'

'First words. Greetings. That sort of thing.'

Sam knew as well as I did that included in the procedures there was a set speech already prepared, Sam also knew I wouldn't use that. So I now had two more things to do during the time left before we established whether I needed them or not.

The sharp tone of Sam's voice interrupted my thoughts.

'De-acceleration! Five, four, three, two, one - now!'

The ride down through the atmosphere was a little bumpy at first, mainly because of the steep spiral Sam had to use to keep the bulk of the planet between us and where we had seen the hot spot, but it settled down when we were a couple of klicks above the surface, and then we both concentrated on finding a suitable landing site.

My plan was for us to land a fairly long way from the site of the hot spot, keeping the curve of the planet between us, to begin a normal survey, start making a normal report. Then, in a series of low hops, to edge closer towards the site, checking for any transmissions that the other ship might make, if it were a ship that is. There had been a certain edginess in Sam's voice when I briefed her but she hadn't disagreed too strongly so that was what we did.

Under normal circumstances I would have been quite excited, getting out of the confines of the ship, starting to see whatever new things the planet had to show me, guessing there would be a worthwhile bonus for me because of the potential the planet had as a home-site world. The methane was generated from vast, swampy areas and even I could see that it would take very little terra-forming to fix that problem, and at one landing point I was able to open the suit and breathe quite normally, proving that the natural atmosphere was more than adequate for humans.

But, as we edged closer to the target site all I could think of was, what would we find there? And got more and more despondent as Sam's scanning picked up absolutely nothing. Not a peep, not a blip, not any sign of life at all.

It was approaching mid-afternoon and we were just one horizon away from the site, about eighty klicks and although I had no intention of walking that far I did want to take some more readings before making the next hop. Luckily the ground at that point was not swampy, a gentle incline sloped up ahead of me for the next four or five klicks and seemed to level out beyond that. I had told Sam what my plan was, so I wouldn't have to transmit back to her with the dog, estimating I would need four or five hours to cover about a third of the distance. Sam would make the short hop just as the sun set behind us, which I hoped would provide a little extra cover for the small burst of energy the ship's movement would create. We would then have the hours of darkness, during which I could either get closer or decide what to do next day, depending on what I had established by then.

I had either over-estimated my fitness or the effect of the increased gravity and, having reached my planned position I had hardly any time left to scan ahead of me before the sun began to set. Not that more time would have made any difference, the ground stretched ahead in a continuing level plain before rising to form a series of low hills, and the site was just beyond those hills. So for all my efforts I had really learned nothing new and as I finished going through the scanning routine I heard the approaching sound of Sam's low-energy hop, then she touched down just a short distance away.

I climbed back on board, tired and frustrated and asked Sam if she had anything new to tell me, and although her voice sounded as tense as I was feeling, she hadn't, the silence had been total. So I had a refresher, ate and settled down to re-think our next move.

I must have dozed off for only a few minutes, but was brought back to reality in an instant by Sam's voice, its tone was unusually urgent, and then it was cut off in mid sentence.

'Jake! Jake there's a message...'

*

Chapter 4

Peter

There were a series of whistling peeps, then.

'......... ..... ... .... welcome, hello. I greet you in no fight, you bring peace too. You speak, slow. My machine will make clear your words, my words. No fear - speak slow, now.'

It was Sam - but it certainly wasn't Sam! And strangely enough my first concern was for her.

'Sam, what's happening? Are you all right?'

The voice answered. 'Your machine good. Speak slow.'

It was obvious that whatever it was had over-ridden Sam's controls and perhaps, all of our security systems too. If so I should be worrying about myself more than anything else, but the adrenaline had started pumping and the suppressed excitement made it difficult to think of too many different things at the one time. So, having checked that all the screens were really as dead as they appeared to be, I found myself answering with the little speech Sam had reminded me to prepare.

'Welcome to you too. On behalf of my species I greet you in peace and bring to you and your kind the good wishes of my people.'

The voice answered, and I was amazed at the almost instantaneous improvement in both its pronunciation and vocabulary.

'More good. Soon my species' machine will speak more close to your words. Language coming quickly now. Complex, non-logical, making for slow translation. Good wishes accepted and returned again. You are alone.'

I couldn't tell from the tone of the voice whether the final words were a question or a statement - in either case their interest were cause for concern. Were they nervous - or hungry? I decided to follow the simplest path, the truth.

'On this planet, apart from the machines, I am alone.'

'Let them chew on that for a while.' I thought. The cavalry might be cruising nearby or be a million light years away, if they were peacefully inclined it should make no difference. After a brief pause, I added.

'And you, how many of you are there?'

There was another pause, whatever it was on the end of the voice was obviously going through a process similar to mine before answering.

'I also am alone, on this planet.'

'A stand-off.' I thought. 'Sentient?' Perhaps. A machine could be programmed for such inflexions of language. But if it wasn't just a machine! Jackpot! All I had to do was flash the information to the beacon and I'd soon be famous, rich!

But to do that I needed Sam and it was obvious that Sam wasn't quite 'with me' just then. I wondered if any of what was happening was being recorded somewhere. So my best plan seemed to be to keep talking to whatever it was I was talking to, find out whatever I could and hope that I could somehow get control of at least some of Sam's operational capacity.

'It's a lonely life in space. Are you far from home?'

'I cannot talk of that. Not approved. You?'

'I cannot answer either. Is this your first visit to this place?'

'Mine yes, my kind have been here once before. You?'

'No. We are scouts, explorers if you like.'

'We? You said you were alone, speak the truth please.'

I managed a chuckle. 'The ship is a combot. That is it has computerised robotic functions, some of them are what we call 'humanised', it appears to have a personality. We become accustomed to referring to such ships as 'he' or 'she', which are terms for the sexes of our species. So it is natural to refer to the ship and myself as 'we'.'

'I understand. This is not approved for us - but still many do the same. Some need such partnerships more than others.'

'So then you will also understand that I have concern for the well-being of my ship, not just as a machine but as something that is close to being a friend. I am concerned you may have harmed it in some way.'

'Have no concern, your ship is safe, I am doing no harm.'

'Then why not return some controls to me? Why not show yourself on the screen, so we can talk more directly, face to face? This meeting is important to us, my people I mean, you are the first contact we have made.'

Even as the words came out I wondered if it was something I should have said - anyway it was too late now. But at least it triggered more information from the voice.

'Your first contact. Ah, now I understand. When I first entered your ship I found many things that were strange to me, machines of war, some turned inwards. Now I see why. You will need to make records, and later, send news. All that will be done, soon.'

The words whirled around in my head. 'Entered your ship' 'Machines of war' 'Some turned inwards' - whoever, whatever it was must have gone down through the deepest levels of our security. To all intents and purposes I was a prisoner in my own ship, it was just as well I hadn't tried to bluff my way out.

'Jake.'

It was Sam's voice.

'Sam! Its good to hear your voice, is everything all right?'

'Mostly. The alien is using a system I do not fully understand. There are unrecorded periods, not all functions are operable but there appears to be no immediate threat. However, we may now communicate more freely Jake.'

'Jake. Is that your name, title or function please?'

The question was asked by a new voice, not the variation of Sam's that I had heard before. Obviously it still wasn't the alien's own voice but I thought perhaps it might be closer to how that might sound to me.

'Jake is my name, scout is my function, I have no title. May I ask your name?'

A whistling chord sounded, I don't know much about music but I could tell it was in a minor key, which gave it a strangely yearning tone. 'That is how my name would sound to you - as best as my machine can translate it, my name would be Peter.'

'Peter. I wish I could sing your name properly it is the most beautifully sounding name I've ever heard.'

There was a distinct pause before he answered. 'Thank you Jake, but I assure you that amongst my people it is a very ordinary sounding name. But to more important things.

Soon now you will have need to communicate, particularly since this is your first contact - and you will be expected to answer many questions. I may provide answers to some of the more simple of those, but most of them will need to wait until contact is made with others. There will be many meetings between our people. In our experience the process of information exchange can take many years.'

Things had been happening so fast I had almost forgotten the impact that the events would have on humanity, Peter's almost casual reference to meetings and exchanges of information brought me back to reality, with a rush.

'Yes, well that will be the start of a whole new series of problems, for me anyway. So far I've broken just about every rule in the book, from failing to communicate when Sam first identified the hot spot that was presumably caused by your engines, to allowing my ship to be entered. So, why don't we continue to get to know each other for a while longer, worry about the rest of our people in a little while? Apart from anything else it'll give me time to think up some rational excuses for what I have done.'

What I can best describe as a melodic whistle came through the channels, I assumed it was untranslatable, and hoped it might be the equivalent of a laugh.

'I see, yes you undoubtedly have strict rules to follow. Even we do, and we have now had many such meetings.' Then the tone of voice changed, to one of concern. 'Will you be in serious trouble, punished in some way?'

'Oh the initial reaction will be to haul me over the coals, sorry that won't make much sense to you. My superiors will want to discipline me in some way. But once the media gets hold of the story and it becomes news, and that will be almost instantaneously, there really won't be too much they can do about it. And I suspect they will all be too busy trying to get their picture on the Teev screens alongside me.'

'There are things there I do not fully understand yet Jake but it is of no great matter, I understand the principles, so what do you suggest?'

'First, I'm sure you have been watching me all this time, why not open the screens and let me see you?'

'It is true, I can see you, and you are not unattractive people, you look, well - nice. Do all your people look the same?'

I grinned self-consciously. 'Thanks Peter, I'm glad I don't look like a monster to you, that'll help us to get along with each other. As to all of us looking the same, well, we all have two arms and legs, a head with two eyes and ears, that sort of thing. But there are shades of colours from white through to almost black, we come in a range of sizes, both height and weight and even though they've been trying to standardise it for centuries now, we still speak a variety of languages and have a variety of customs. I guess the best thing to say is that we are essentially, similar.' Then I remembered the most obvious difference. 'Oh, and there are two sexes, male, I'm one of those, and female, which give birth to our young.'

There was quite a long pause before Peter responded.

'That is most interesting Jake. It seems that we have a number of things in common, even though we are separate species. But even so, before I show myself I would like us to talk a little more, it is possible my appearance may shock you and that could interfere with our 'getting along', as you called it. I suggest we just talk a little longer, about our way of life, personal things, as you might if you met someone at a social gathering, get to know each other as individuals, not as representatives of our species. I will vacate some parts of your ship to enable you to record that if you like.'

Peter's words suddenly stirred an idea. 'Peter, when did you first start blocking some of Sam's systems, the comms, I mean communications, recording, transmitting?'

'Progressively, starting with identified transmitting capacities, from just after you entered the system, more areas were controlled as they were safely identified after your landing, full control was not established until you vacated the ship.'

'So that was why Sam was reporting possible transmission faults. I couldn't have flashed, even if I'd wanted to.'

'Will that reduce your risk of being coal hauled Jake?'

I chuckled at the way Peter's concern was expressed in the translation. 'I should think so, wouldn't you Sam?'

'Yes Jake. The events were totally beyond your or my capacity to alter them.'

'Now Sam, when precisely did your internal recording capacity stop, please check.'

The reply was virtually instantaneous and meaningless of course but when I had Sam relate it to our track into the system I gave a little whoop of satisfaction.

'Great! Now Sam, once Peter hands back those systems, what will your records show?'

'A blank period.'

'So there will be absolutely nothing to show what has happened, no flight details, nothing, starting from the time you just said, and finishing whenever Peter hands back?'

'Correct Jake.'

'O.K. Peter, do you have any objection to being what we call, the villain of the piece? What I mean by that is...'

'I understands the meaning Jake, and no, I have no objection. So far as my people are concerned I was fulfilling my duties.'

'Excellent.'

'But what is the point Jake?'

'The point is we can continue to get to know each other, as you said. I can also prepare a short sub-routine for Sam that will be entered into our Log, that's the ship's report, which explains what happened. That way we should avoid all the official unpleasantness, I'll tell a few fibs, say I got Sam's report of concern about transmission capacity and holed-up behind that moon to check it. Having no success and being unable to fix it I decided to press on anyway. Sounds a bit more heroic than it was but it's essentially the same thing as happened, except I didn't really want to transmit. You understand Sam? You follow my line of thinking Peter.'

'Yes Jake.' Their voices replied in unison. Peter's continued. 'You are quick thinking, innovative and resourceful, if the rest of your people have that capacity you will do well once you are free to mix with the rest of us. So, what now, we just talk?'

And that's just what we did. For the next hour or so, and as Peter suggested we tried to keep it as personal as possible. Both of us were obviously being wary about giving out information that we shouldn't, and I was very conscious that although my systems were still down, Peter's were obviously going at full power, so he could make use of everything I said. Still, I felt it was worth while and as the conversation continued I began to get the distinct impression that Peter had taken a liking to me personally, the way you sometimes can even when you have met someone for only a short time.




Sex in Sci-Fi Ch. 05



Even through the translator I sensed a warming between us, his melodic laugh became more frequent, his comments became less formal, more intimate somehow. It was similar to the feelings that I sometimes sensed in Sam's voice, 'and probably just as machine-made', I reminded myself.

Then something he said made me think of vid-discs and I realised that there were some I could show him with reasonable safety, Teev shows that I had recorded for some reason or other. Peter freed up part of our internal system and I had Sam screen them for him, so he could get a better idea of the variations between us, the differences between male and female. That was shown in detail in one segment that I had forgotten, and which may have been the reason I recorded it in the first place, a gorgeous blonde, naked of course, seducing some reluctant fool. So Peter got to see a bit more of our customs than I had really intended!

And that of course triggered the start of a more intimate conversation. We had previously covered a range of subjects, bits of history, political systems, religion and the lack of it, sporting and cultural activities and the like.

Peter opened it up by saying. 'Jake, the longer we have talked the more I have a feeling that somewhere, in times long past, we may have had some common origin.'

The silence was deafening, as they say, until he continued.

'I do not mean that we are both children of the same tribe, like the concept of Adam and Eve that you mentioned earlier. But you know that we are not too dissimilar to yourselves. We too have appendages like your arms and legs, though our jointing and extremities are different. We too have an erect sensory centre, like your head. Are bi-focal and bi-aural with single breathing and feeding orifices. We too have two sexes and it is the female that gives birth, after fertilisation by a single male. I should add that several other species we have already met are grossly different in a number of respects - but I cannot of course say more than that at this time.

Our similarities are too numerous to be completely circumstantial I believe, our scientists will have much to keep them interested for a very long time.

But, before that begins, I am interested in these things at a personal level and, if you will agree, would like to discuss such matters in more detail with you. As I said before, not as representatives of our separate species but as two scouts, a long way from home. Are you agreeable to that?'

'O.K. by me. Where do we start?'

'How do you select a mate? What is important in a relationship?'

'Wow! You start with what are probably the hardest questions of all. Many of our philosophers have been trying to find answers to those for a very long time, and I don't think any two agree even now. But, accepting that I am just one out of several trillion, there are in fact a variety of types of relationships.

First of all there is a male and a female, we'll come back to that later, then there are males with males, females with females and several variations of each. That's just the physical aspect.'

'And you Jake, where do you fit in the physical pattern?'

'Me, I'm prehistoric, strictly male with female.'

That brought a low whistle from Peter, which I took to perhaps indicate the equivalent of my deep-throated chuckle.

'Let's say for a moment that I'm average, somewhere in the middle of all these permutations of flesh. When it comes to choosing a female, and remember, the female is just as likely to do the choosing as is the male...'

'Explain that please Jake. How does the female choose?'

'Various ways, depending on her personality and her opportunities, just as a man has to do. Let's say a woman sees a man she likes the look of, she probably tries to find out something about him, from friends or people he works with, making sure he's got something other than just his looks. But then she's just as likely to not bother with that at all, trust her instincts. If she saw a man at a party, a social gathering, she might just go over and start a conversation, see how they got along. It's incredibly variable Peter - that's what makes it so hard to explain to you. Sometimes it can be no more than a person catching sight of someone, and being instantly attracted to them.

But to come back to me. Even once you've seen someone you like and find that they like you, a relationship may not follow. In my case it's more than likely that it won't, because I'm a scout I mean. Not too many women fancy the idea of not having their man around for two years at a stretch. They may like the six months holiday together, but not what has to be done to earn that time.

So, someone like me tends to have a series of short relationships, knowing that I'll be off sometime means I have to control the emotional involvement I allow myself to feel. And sometimes that can be very hard to do.'

I paused, realising I was saying things that I had found difficult to admit to myself. I cleared my throat and went on.

'So, in that sense I am far from being average, so we'll have to pick someone else to fill that role. Anyway, let's say Mr. Average finds the woman of his dreams, they fall in love and set up home together. They may have gone through one of the several different forms of marriage that we have, or they may not have bothered, but either way, at that time they both probably expect it to last, but statistically it won't. Then after one of he various forms of break-up, they'll try again with someone new, expecting that relationship to last. Maybe it does, often it doesn't. But they, we keep trying to find that special someone.

But, at the same time, circumstances sometimes play a big part. Come back to me for a moment. Let's say that as a result of a ship malfunctioning or something like that, a group of us find ourselves stuck on a maintenance station for a few days or weeks. It's likely that there will be women scouts stuck there too and possible that one of them and I will get into some sort of casual fling together, to simply help pass the time, you might say.'

'I understand that.' Peter said. 'But from what you first said it seems that your people are, by preference, paired for as long a relationship as events and their personalities will allow.'

I thought for a moment. 'Peter, that is just about exactly right, I don't think I have ever heard it better put.'

'Thank you. In this too we are similar. Now, what do you look for, intellect, size, strength, long-living?'

'The answers are just not that simple Peter. Different people have different ideals. Men for instance, because I understand them better. Some go for facial features, others for the shape of different parts of a woman's body, her breasts, her legs, that sort of thing. But then, in spite of their ideals, they are just as likely to fall in love with a woman who is quite different to what they have always been looking for.'

'And what do you look for Jake?'

'Me, Sam can answer that for you, can't you Sam?'

'Yes Jake. Jake fantasises about having sex with women with long, blonde hair, and even longer legs. But underneath that he is actually looking for someone who cares for him as a person, and to whom he can give a total emotional commitment. And that is hard for him to do in this type of work.'

'Thanks Sam, the psychological profile wasn't what I was looking for though.'

Peter was quiet for some time. 'Most interesting, again we are not dissimilar, though I have some difficulties with the full meaning of the word, emotional, in that context. But let us ignore that for the moment. I have seen something of what occurs between males and females.' he said, referring to the portion of the vid-disc I had screened. 'Is that all?'

I wasn't really sure what he meant by 'all', the tape had been quite explicit, but then I realised that it had only shown the physical side of what happens when two people make love.

'The tape was visual only. There are systems that reproduce something of the feelings that occur when people make love together, but these are not allowed on scouts' ships, accidents have occurred in the past.'

'I understand. So there are powerful, internal sensations accompanying the coupling?'

'Usually, yes. But, so far this has been a very one-sided conversation Peter. We were to exchange information - and you were to show yourself, remember.'

'I agree Jake, I have been very unfair, but it was for a reason. But before I begin, I need nourishment and I would think you might too.'

I hadn't realised until then but having mentioned it I found I was, as Peter put it, definitely 'in need of nourishment'.

'Good idea Peter! How long do you need?'

'Let us say forty-five of your minutes, is that sufficient?'

'More than enough. See you later, as we say, and please make sure I do!'

Peter's low whistling chuckle broke off as he closed the circuits, apparently he was going to give me my privacy while I ate.

*

Chapter 5

Getting to Know You 

Until I moved to prepare something to eat I didn't realise just how drained I was. The tension must have kept my adrenaline level at a peak for the past several hours. Food and a quick refresher were what I needed but, having had both I found myself impatiently waiting for Peter's voice.

But at the same time as I sat waiting for the circuits to re-open I realised that Sam had been unusually silent.

'How are things Sam?'

Her voice was remote, flat, emotionless.

'Within the limits of allowed activity everything is normal.'

'But something is bothering you, other than Peter's restraints I mean. What is it?'

There was a little of her usual warmth in her reply but I still sensed a distantness in the tone.

'I'm not really sure Jake. There's something about Peter that I can't quite work-out, just a vague unease, not danger you understand, something different, affecting other circuits. I have been trying to isolate it, but with only a small part of myself available it is very difficult.'

'I understand. Keep trying, Peter should return other circuits to us soon, maybe they will help. When you have the opportunity, let me know the results please.'

'There is another matter.'

'Yes Sam.'

'When this mission is completed. When you have collected the fund I mean. You will surely leave the fleet. What will become of me, this combot? I have strange - 'feelings'.'

Under other circumstances I would have been excited by what Sam had just said. A combot admitting to its own, internal 'feelings' - which every engineer had said again and again were impossibilities. But just then screens flickered to life and I heard Peter's voice greeting me. I spoke quickly to Sam, saying she should not be concerned, that there was still a lot for us to do together - and we should not worry about what was to happen later, until later.

Peter's voice repeated his greeting. 'Jake, are you fed?'

'Yes Peter, sorry, I was just re-assuring Sam about something.'

'Your ship is experiencing what you and I would call concern?'

'Yes Peter. Sam tells me she is experiencing 'feelings'.'

'That is neither unusual nor surprising, yet you sound as though you find it so.'

'It is new for us. The engineers say it is not possible, yet many scouts agree amongst themselves that it happens.'

'Ah I understand. The scientists are always the last to admit that many things that occur actually do happen. They will be convinced soon enough, you can be sure of that.'

I assumed Peter was referring to the knowledge that would pass between us once contact was extended, and would have loved to have had the opportunity to explore what other information would follow, but knew Peter would politely but quite firmly close off any such line of conversation.

'I think Sam will respond better once there are more circuits re-opened, there must be the equivalent of a sense of frustration building up inside, that worries me too Peter.'

'Do not be concerned Jake. Soon now I will return all functions. But before I do, there are a few things I wish to explain, something I wish to show you and perhaps a little more conversation between us. And, by the way I trust your food and refresher was invigorating - I myself found them quite stimulating.'

I didn't have time to find out just what he meant by that as he immediately continued.

'While you were doing those things I prepared the equivalent of one of your vid-discs, so you can see something of my people, get used to what we look like before I show myself. We are different and as this is your first contact you might be somewhat shocked if I simply appear in front of you.

But before I transmit that, there is something I must explain, something on a more personal level. When my machine first translated my name into something you could recognise, it apparently selected a name that has two different spellings in your language - and two different interpretations, one male, the other female.'

There was a sound from Sam that I can only describe as being a gasp, a gasp of understanding. Peter continued.

'You see Jake, although you have been calling me 'Peter' and thinking I am a male, in fact my name should be 'Peta' - I am a female.'

I said nothing, I couldn't think of anything to say and Peter, Peta continued.

'It was a little while before I realised what had happened, at first it didn't matter, then, as we got to know each other better and I began to feel closer to you, I became embarrassed and was not sure how to extricate myself from the problem. I apologise for any embarrassment my mistake and impoliteness may have caused you and assure you I had no intention of taking advantage of you in any way.

However, as we have talked and I of course have had the advantage of being able to see you, I found myself, first liking you as an individual and then later, recalling the vid-disc you showed me, when I saw you unclothed, while you refreshed yourself, I realised there was another feeling growing, physical attraction. I must add that I think this will be common amongst my people, although we are much different, your people will be seen by most of us to be quite beautiful and very attractive physically.

But.' he, that is she continued. 'I now have even stronger concerns about showing myself to you. It may well be that I will not seem attractive to you! You understand?'

'I think so.' I answered, quite stunned by her speech and its implications. Obviously she had left the circuits open during the time I ate and took my refresher - 'On purpose or by chance?' - I wondered. By the sound of things I now not only had an emotional combot but also a potentially horny alien. What a day!

'There were times while we were talking.' I continued. 'Times when I felt we were getting very close, there was an easiness, a warmth. As I thought of you as being male those feelings disturbed me, so I ignored them, pushed them away. Let me say that if a human can be attractive to you I can see no reason why you shouldn't appear attractive to me.'

'Perhaps that is so. But we are still very different, and I am accustomed to seeing alien life forms, as yet you are not. While you ate I considered this, that is why I have prepared the vid-disc equivalent I mentioned. Viewing it will give you time to adjust to how we look, before I show myself.'

She anticipated my question by adding. 'I have cleared the circuit that will allow your ship to record what I am about to transmit.'

'Thank you. Get that Sam?'

'Yes Jake. All of it. Recording commencing.'

There was a momentary pause, a distinct sigh of relief from Sam and then the shifting patterns on the screens were cleared and replaced with clear video, which I watched with a growing sense of wonder.

Peta's people were not unattractive. Certainly different. But as I watched in fascination the differences gradually became less obtrusive.

Though I of course had no human reference point I felt sure they were tall people. Certainly they were long-legged. I didn't see any unclothed until towards the end of the tape but, even clothed the differences were obvious.

Assuming I was right about their height, they were tall, with an upright stance and, as Peta had said, two arms and legs very much like ours, though their equivalent of our elbow was lower and seemed to have a more rotational joint, and clearly they had no nails on their six fingers.

Their heads were slightly larger than ours by comparison to their body mass, with a more pronounced cranium. The nose was virtually non-existent, just a slight ridge, with only a single nostril. What I presumed were ears were also tiny, merely two similarly raised ridges on either side of their head.

Yet their mouths were virtually identical to ours, apart from what was inside them that is, in place of our upper and lower sets of separate teeth were small bony plates. 'Not much work for dentists on Peta's world.' I thought.

Though the listing of differences may give the impression of something unpleasant to look at, the two most striking features of her people were so magnificent that they made the differences fade into insignificance. Their skin and their eyes.

First of all there was no body hair, that in itself was not strange to me as many humans had what little they still grew removed. I was unusual, especially for a scout, as I had kept mine, head and eye-brows anyway. Like virtually everyone else I'd had most of the rest removed long ago, but for some reason I had never fully understood myself, unlike them I had retained the small patch of pubic hair.

But it was the texture and colour of their skin that attracted attention. Smooth, unwrinkled, even at the joints, and having a suffused glow, an opalescence which, coupled with its smoothness made me want to reach into the screen and touch it. The colour was a very pale shade of olive green. Some were a little lighter or darker than others, but from what I saw it seemed that the range of shades was quite small, certainly nothing like the range of human colourings.

Even then, in spite of the almost unconscious urge to stroke their skin, it was the eyes that held my gaze. Set wide apart, half as large again as ours and more rounded. Where ours are white theirs were tinged with the palest shade of green, but the irises, slightly oblated, were of every conceivable colour, every hue in the rainbow and, like their skin, seemed to emit a faint, soft glow.

One pair were especially beautiful, belonging to a person that acted as a narrator, tying the various segments together. The primary colour was a vivid emerald green, flecked with both gold and silver highlights, and being set in the delicate jade background made them seem to shine with a soft, inner light. But I found they weren't just obviously beautiful, it wasn't long before I found that staring into them began to have an almost hypnotic effect on me.

A little way into the presentation the narrator gave a brief outline of the way their system worked, their version of what we would call a legislative or political system. It was simple, everyone had a 'vote', although there wasn't really an equivalent in our language to what their word meant, but not just one of them. As a citizen I would automatically have one, as I progressed through my education I would, at certain stages of maturity and understanding get more. Then, as I entered a job or career I would be allocated additional 'votes', some of which were valid in the broader community, others only within my job or profession. So, as a scout, Peta would have a vote as to how scouts should perform, behave and be rewarded, and whilst she had a number of votes as to how her community should react to various situations, she had very limited say in what the circumstances should be for someone in a job she knew nothing about.




Sex in Sci-Fi Ch. 05



It all made sense, but I couldn't see New-Earth going for its complexity and what she said about how the system worked made it even more clear to me that when it came to social organisation we obviously still had some way to go.

After a while I realised that I had no way of telling the males from the females, some were slightly less, 'graceful', I suppose, than others but other than that there was nothing obvious, nothing that seemed to compare with our women's hips and breasts.

My problem had been anticipated, after about half an hour of clips showing scenes of general social and political life, and their version of the latter made ours look like a madhouse, the screen began to show more personal, perhaps family subjects. Included in that was a short piece referring to their sexuality, and that was when I got my first shock.

The males were little different to us, though what was obviously their equivalent of our penis was both shorter and thinner, not much more than a flexible tube. Testicles were merely small, rounded bulges at its base, and from what I gathered, there seemed to be no equivalent of our erection either before or during the sex act. But then their women were so differently made that they didn't need one.

For starters, unlike human women, a major portion of their genitalia was external, not internal. What I learned were their ovaries were very similar to the male's testicles, a pair of smooth, round bulges of flesh. What was translated for me as the 'receptor' was a short but telescopic member, that grew into a tube-like part when the female was ready for sex, becoming both longer and thicker than the male's penis. There was a brief scene showing a male and female coupling, they stood, the male's penis stiffened just a little and the female slipped her 'receptor' over it, then they continued standing, just holding and stroking each other. Apart from the caressing the only movement seemed to be a continuous rippling action along the length of the female's 'receptor', there was neither thrusting nor heaving, and even allowing for the educational nature of the clip, their sex act by comparison with ours, seemed almost joyless.

When whatever happened was finished and the male began to withdraw his 'penis' I noticed that the female's 'receptor' gave a few more of the rippling contractions, presumably to contain their equivalent of sperm, and that as the male then fully withdrew, the opening at the end closed tightly behind it.

I would have preferred their version of a porn-vid, if they had such things, I felt I had learned next to nothing about their love lives.

The rest of the tape showed the insides of various families' homes, scenes from everyday life and although I'm sure a sociologist would have had a marvellous time picking up the strange differences, after a while I had become so used to seeing Peta's people that I began to feel I was watching a group of unusually dressed humans, and understood her use of the word 'similar' to describe us.

Then emerald eyes returned to the screen with some closing words and by that time I felt as though I was seeing an old friend again and was almost sorry to see the eyes fade as the screen darkened. But when it returned to life, as Peta obviously began to transmit directly, there they were again, flashing brilliantly as her voice spoke to me.

'I hope that was of interest Jake. I'm sorry it could not be more comprehensive but I am sure you appreciate the reasons for that at this stage, and I did not have too much time to check and sort my data banks to find some of the things I wanted to show you.'

'I didn't realise it was you narrating Peta. Your voice sounded different. But your eyes, they're beautiful!'

'Thank you Jake.' Then, with a note of hesitancy in her voice, she asked. 'But tell me, did you find us repulsive to look at?'

No, not at all! Even in such a short period I found that I became quite accustomed to the initial strangeness of some differences, others, like your skin and especially the eyes, were positively sensual. But I have a dozen questions of course.'

'Naturally, it would be strange if you had not, and I have dozens for you too. But, for now I have just one.'

Her face, which had undoubtedly been smiling now took on a more serious look and her eyes seemed to fill the screen as she stared deep into mine.

'What's that Peta?'

'Would you join with me, in my craft I mean?'

Did she mean - 'Go and join her in her ship.' - or - 'Go and join with her, in her ship'? What was my answer to either question? 'No' to both? 'Yes' to the first and 'No' to the second? 'Yes' to both? I needed time to think about the second but none whatsoever to answer the first, so replied, as diplomatically as I could.

'On behalf of my people, I would be both thrilled and honoured Peta.'

Again I heard her whistling laugh. 'I am not inviting all of your people Jake, just you. But I am glad, very glad that you agree. Now, you will find my atmosphere somewhat richer in oxygen than yours, not dangerously so but I suggest you bring a 'breather' of some kind just in case, and some of your own food and drink. We can try a little of each other's, chemically they will be acceptable to both of us but I expect we will find the strangeness, particularly that of the food, unpalatable.'

'I have a small surface vehicle Peta but the hills between us may be a little too rough, is there sufficient room to bring my ship alongside yours?'

'Not necessary Jake, I can arrange your transportation. But first I suggest you have your ship prepare that program you mentioned, detailing your arrival and so forth. It can be done whilst we are together then you can check it on your return, before I exit all the combot's systems.'

'Is that O.K. Sam?' I asked.

Her answer was a little slow in coming and when she did reply I could hear from her voice that she was still demonstrating some tenseness, but she assured me she knew what was necessary and that she would attend to it. So once Sam had started on that I took a few minutes to prepare another sub-routine for her to run after I had left the ship then, having slipped into the light suit, collected a few things I thought might be useful and hooked myself up to the 'dog', I once again went out of the ship and waited, just a little nervously to see what happened next.

I heard her voice. 'Do not be nervous Jake, there will be a fairly bright light and then you will be here, quite quickly.'

She was exactly right, one second I was standing in the relative darkness, the next I was bathed in a deep, almost violet-blue light and immediately became aware of a sensation of lift and motion. Peering down past my feet I could dimly see the outline of land passing beneath me, the shapes of the hills around me and then, after just a few seconds, felt the firmness of ground beneath my feet again, and the light shut off.

It took a couple of seconds for my eyes to re-accustom themselves to the darkness, then I saw the outline of the bulk of her ship, and that pale green light was pouring from an open hatchway, I approached and went inside.

*

Chapter 6

Peta

I was surprised to find that the air-lock looked just like an air-lock, apart from what were obviously the emergency instructions, which were in a scrolling script that reminded me in many ways of some of the Old-Earth's early Arabic writings. I was about to close the outer door behind me when I heard Peta's now familiar voice.

'No need Jake. Allow me.'

The door closed, there was a slight hiss as air was replaced and then the door into the interior opened for me and, feeling my heart racing, I stepped through it.

The first thing I saw were her eyes, those brilliantly emerald-green eyes, shining, and beneath them, her so human-like mouth, smiling.

'Welcome Jake, welcome.'

Her translated voice was of course accompanied by her own speech's melodic tones and at first I had trouble separating the two. But she had obviously anticipated that problem and made some change to a piece of equipment and from then on her own speech merely sounded like quiet, musical accompaniment to what I was hearing.

If Peta represented an average female of her species they were, as I had thought, tall. For a human male I am well above average height, and her eyes were virtually level with mine. But she was very much better dressed than I was. Standing there in the light suit, the 'dog' trailing behind me I felt a bit like a poor relation visiting some wealthy patron.

The gown, for lack of a better word, fell in shimmering folds around her, a close fitting cowl covering her head and the garment covering everything except her face and her hands. The prime colours were russets and golds but dancing through and across its surface were all the imaginable shades of green. Unlike any clothes I had seen before, there were no obvious seams or closures, the material simply hung or fitted depending on how she stood or moved.

Although I was almost overawed by the significance of our meeting and was mesmerised by her eyes, like any man, I couldn't help trying to see the body that was hidden by the flowing colours that swirled around it. But the fabric, or whatever it was, was totally opaque, and even when it flowed around her as she moved it gave no hint of the actual shape of the body beneath it.

I never did see any part of the ship other than the section she welcomed me into. As she explained and I easily understood, she was bound by even more rules and regulations than I was, but I did discover later that many parts of the ship's interior were, 'flexible' was the way the word was translated. That areas could be expanded or contracted, fittings brought into use or stored according to the pilot's need at the time. She told me that she had 'designed' the area where we were in a way that she thought would make me feel most at ease.

Dragging my eyes away from her I looked around me, there was not one single item that gave me any clue as to her origin, level of civilisation, capacity of the ship, nothing. The surfaces were smooth, coated with a material that reminded me of the texture of her people's skin, having a similar opalescent sheen. There were two recliners and several flat surfaced pieces in the centre of the room, down one wall were a bank of screens and what were obviously their control panels, all dead. The adjacent wall was quite blank, though I guessed that if I knew how it operated I would be able to pass through it into the rest of the ship.

The other two walls, which the recliners were turned to face, were quite obviously designed to please rather than to serve a more practical function. One was made up of a series of differently angled planes, creating segments of varying sizes, some contained objects, others what may have been their equivalent of paintings. The adjacent wall was dominated by a holo-screen, which may at other times have served a more practical purpose but which, while I was there provided nothing more than a slowly changing pattern of shapes and colours, accompanied by occasional low level musical tones.

Compared with the relatively cramped monotony of our ships, Peta's seemed like a palace.

'I hope it pleases you, that you feel comfortable here.' she said.

'It's quite wonderful Peta, I only wish our ships were as attractive as this, it looks very, very comfortable.'

She smiled. 'Good, I was hoping you would feel that way. Now, you will find that another of the similarities we have is that we both breathe air that is almost identical, as I said, ours has a slightly higher oxygen content than yours, but not enough for you to be concerned. So, you may remove your suit, you will be totally safe I assure you.'

Even though I believed her, old habits die hard and I automatically verified what she said, by checking the read-out on one of the dog's panels before I slipped the suit off. Underneath I was wearing just a coverall, and beneath that a body-stocking, fancy clothes aren't part of a scout's usual kit, so, comparing myself with the way she was dressed I continued to feel a bit like the poor relation.

But in spite of that I couldn't help noticing the way Peta looked at me, although of course I had no way of knowing what emotions the various changes in her eyes denoted, I could see that changes were happening as she looked me over.

'Please sit Jake. Leave your equipment where it is and come over here, I have made some refreshing drinks for us. Yours is adjusted to your body's slightly different chemistry but the taste may not be to your liking, if not, please say so, I can alter it in any way you prefer.'

I had absolutely no reason not to trust her, but if anything did happen to me Sam would instantly flash all our stored data to the beacon, then self-destruct, instructions I had inserted in the brief, manual programme I had set-up before I left. So I did as she asked, moved over to where she had indicated then sat and watched her as she moved gracefully across the space and produced two tall drinks from a panel that opened at her touch.

I accepted the one she gave me to try and cautiously sipped it, it was delicious! Cool, with a vaguely fruitily acidic flavour note, a little sweet, but with an underlying taste that was unidentifiable, but very more-ish. I took a second sip, looked up at her and grinned.

'Superb! Quite delicious Peta, thank you.'

My response obviously pleased her, she gave me another smile and I saw the sparkling colours in her eyes shift shades momentarily, then she sat down in the other recliner.

'Good, I'm glad it pleases you. It contains something that may relax us, assist us in the process of becoming, how should I say it, friends. Somehow I doubt that my food will be as pleasing, but we can try it, a little later. Before all that, we must talk, there are so many things we each will want to know. There are many subjects we cannot talk about of course, but I am sure there are still many, perhaps more personal things that we can share. Don't you agree?'

'Certainly.' I answered. Naturally there were things I wanted to know about, so many things. Where her people came from? What they knew that we didn't? What made them keep pushing out into the cold reaches between the stars? What lay beneath the glistening, shimmering cloth she wore? And that was just for openers. But all I could think of to say in answer was. 'But my head is so full of questions that I can't seem to sort them out. So why don't you start, after all you are used to meeting aliens, you have to remember that this, you are our, my, very first.'

Again I heard the whistling sound of her laugh. 'That is both understandable and quite reasonable. So, where to begin? Perhaps our art is as good a place as any to start.' she said, indicating the objects on the wall in front of us.

I slowly sipped at my drink as she began to speak and noticed a slowly growing sense of well-being as I listened to the melodic tones that softly accompanied the translation. But although one portion of my brain was taking-in what she was saying about their culture, another was concentrating on her. Seeing past our differences, but also our similarities, both doing the same kind of work, facing the same dangers, alone, a long way from home.

And at a deeper level, remembering the feelings that had been aroused during the vid-disc she had showed me, feeling the strange urge to touch that opalescent skin returning.

With difficulty I dragged my attention back to what she was saying, in time to hear her say that as their tactile senses were so highly developed, their most popular art was designed to be touched, not just to be looked at. Adding, in a way that I could only describe as 'shyly', that from the very first sight of me, she had been fascinated by the texture of my hair and, in an even quieter whisper, said that she hoped that sometime I would permit her to touch it.

'Anytime Peta, anytime.' I answered automatically as I drained the last of my drink.

'You do not have, taboos, about this?'

'Not between close friends Peta.'

'I see. Perhaps another drink, a little more talk, to strengthen the closeness?'

'Yes, thank you.'

'It is, appealing?'

'The drink? Yes, it is delicious.'

'Nothing more?'

'I'm not sure I know what you mean.' I answered with a puzzled expression.

'No matter.' she said, smiling down at me as she took my glass.

As she turned and moved back to replenish our drinks I again tried, unsuccessfully, to pierce the softly swaying folds of her gown, but had to be satisfied with no more than the vaguest impression of the outline of the body beneath them.

A moment or two later she returned with fresh drinks, then as I took a sip, instead of sitting down again, she remained standing in front of me. Then, as her brilliantly sparkling eyes held mine, she reached out one arm, her hand level with my head and asked hesitantly.

'May I, just for a moment Jake?'

I nodded and sat quite still as she let her fingers brush delicately across just the very tips of my hair. Her touch was softer than the faintest breeze, so light that if I hadn't known she was doing it I doubt I would have felt it. While she did that our eyes continued to stare deep into each other's, and I was amazed to see that as her fingers slowly wafted across my head, a strange shade-shift seemed to ripple through hers.

'Aaah! It is even more stimulating than I thought.' she said with a slow smile. 'I would like to think that we might become close friends, very close friends, Jake.'

'You get that much, is it pleasure, from such a light touch Peta?'

'Indeed, and it is more than simple pleasure Jake. I mentioned that our sense of touch is one of our strongest senses, it plays an important part in our life, very important. As perhaps you may learn. If, as I mentioned earlier, there really was in ages past, some common ancestor to both our species then, perhaps deep inside you, you still carry some of this heritage too.'

'Touch is certainly very important to us, in many ways, not the least of which is in the pleasure we gain from touching the person we love. But although being touched and held is in many ways critical to the mental well-being of babies and young children, as we grow we seem to lose much of that, and the effect is nowhere near as powerful as what you seem to be able to experience.'

'Oh, but there are far deeper, far stronger levels of pleasure than that, for us anyway. What I felt then was but an upper level of pleasure, what I hope is that later we may together go deeper, that we may find a new level, one that we can share. Do you believe we could do that - and more importantly, would you object to us trying?'

Again that thought, those questions, the one I'd had when she had first invited me to 'Join with me in my ship.' Did I have the correct translation of the nuances of what she said? Was I reading into them more than she meant? If she meant what I thought she meant, would I, more importantly, knowing she was an alien, could I, or would some kind of mental block make it impossible? And if she actually meant for us to take such experimentation to its full extent, would my normally all too reliable virility literally 'stand-up' to the test?

On the other hand, if brushing her hand over my head gave her as much pleasure as I thought I had seen, and she had several even stronger levels of pleasure available to her, what harm could there be in assisting her to reach them.

I already liked her, was totally fascinated by her eyes, felt a steadily growing urge to touch her skin. And then to my surprise, and mild embarrassment, I found that the part of me I'd just had doubts about was definitely becoming aware of thoughts going on in the lower recesses of my brain. Responding to the feeling of that slowly growing arousal and in spite of the lingering doubts, I answered.




Sex in Sci-Fi Ch. 05



'Peta, if you mean what I think you mean, I would like that too.'

She was about to move closer. 'But.' I continued, holding up my hand to stop her. 'If we are to become very close friends I must be able to see something of you, I mean something more than just your hands and your unbelievably beautiful eyes.'

She smiled understandingly. 'You are quite correct, I have been too cautious, for some reason too unsure of myself.'

I took a final draught from my drink as she lifted her hands to slip the cowl back off her head, exposing the smooth curving dome of her head and the long sheen of her neck, and felt, rather than saw how intently she was watching for my reaction.

What she saw in my eyes must have encouraged her, and her gown seemed to alter, the folds covering her arms and shoulders shrinking back, exposing even more of her opalescent, and almost irresistible skin. My fingers reached for her, and she stepped closer, allowing me my first actual touch.

At first I felt very little, or at least very little to excite me. Her skin seemed less soft, less pliable than human skin, there was a strange, almost drum-tight firmness about it. But then, as my finger-tips moved slowly down her arm I felt a faint tingling coming from them, a tingling that grew more pronounced the longer I continued touching her.

Perhaps that initial delay had been caused by my brain's inability to process the signals being transmitted by the chemistry of her skin. But whether it was a question of learning something new, or retrieving some long forgotten coding, once the sequence was established my response time and the strength of the signal were both shortened, and magnified. Within a couple of minutes the feeling I was getting from merely brushing my fingers over her were simply electric!

I found that her skin had a feeling that I can only describe as being like fiery marble. Added to the smooth firmness of that dense stone was what felt like the energy produced by the tips of a flames embedded beneath the flesh. And I could feel that tingling thrill running from my finger-tips, up through my hand and arm into my brain, then instantly flashing out through my entire body. I had never felt anything even remotely like that sensation before, and found it hard to believe that merely touching her could produce such an effect.

Although my eyes were darting up and down, from her skin to her face and back again, hers were watching my face much more intently. I sensed that my reaction was important to her, and that seemed to be confirmed when, as a looked up with what I guessed was an expression of disbelieving pleasure, I saw again that rippling shade-shift in her eyes.

'Ah, yes. As I thought, and as I hoped, there is a two way effect.' she said in a tone of barely restrained excitement.

*

Chapter 7

An Archaeobiological Lesson

'Jake, before we go further there are things I should explain to you, things that the scientists specialising in digging deep into our past have discovered about us, and our planet. But before I begin let me give you a little more to drink, you do find it pleasant, do you not?'

'Extremely so.' I replied, handing her the virtually empty glass.

She replenished it, sat down again and began by explaining something of how their sexes inter-worked, then went on to tell me their theories for how those had developed. Although I was of course fascinated and listened with rapt attention, I also began to find that at the same time there was something going on inside myself that was beginning to cause me just a little embarrassment.

Once she had given me an over-view of their pairing and grouping practices and traditions she explained that she needed to go back into their deep past to explain their origins.

'Our scientists have developed the hypothesis that many aeons ago there was a major change in our environment, maybe our planet was struck by a highly radioactive object, maybe a nearby star went super-nova, or perhaps there was some other unaccountable increase in background radiation.' she said. 'As best our scientists can determine, before that time we, like your species copulated for procreation in much the same way, the male penis within the part akin to your females' vagina. But as a result of the increased radiation level our males must have gradually became less fertile and the population probably began to plummet.

All this we can deduce from what your people would call the fossil records. By then we think that either through evolutionary pressure or as a result of mutation, the sperm had developed a tough outer coating, which gave them additional protection from the radiation, but which also meant they were both less mobile and more difficult for the female to absorb.

I should explain, whereas in your species the sperm actually pierces and penetrates the ovum, in ours the sperm is absorbed by it. The sperm is active in travelling to the ovum, but unlike your situation, where the ovum passively receives the genetic material, with us the ovum is active in absorbing that material from the sperm.

So there was then a double problem in that most of the sperm that were surviving were less able to reach the ova, and those few that did were much harder to absorb because of the tough outer coat.

If it was radiation that caused the original problem it may have also been the cause of another mutation, one that enabled us to survive.

Some females apparently developed a completely new reproductive strategy. In these the genetic material contained in their ova was at certain times released into the blood stream. If male genetic material was also circulating there the chance that fertilisation could be effected was greatly increased. Then the resulting molecule was swept through the system until it was in effect netted by a structure within the female's reproductive system, and once there, it could be brought to term.'

'But how would sperm get into the blood stream in the first place?' I asked.

She gave her equivalent of a smile. 'By being ingested.'

I immediately understood what she meant. 'But surely they would also be digested?'

'Remember the hard outer coating, that protected the genetic material from the digestive juices just long enough, then as it slowly disintegrated the core material was able to slip through the walls of the system, and out into the blood stream.'

'But.'

'I understand your bewilderment but I'm sure there are far stranger forms of procreation used by other species on your planet.'

She was right of course, I could immediately think of at least half a dozen processes that made what she was describing seem like an every day event by comparison.

'So the vaginal part remained purely for the function of delivering of babies?'

'Strangely, no. We have theorised that either some men were less affected by the radiation, or perhaps some women developed ways of dealing with the sperm's outer coating. Or perhaps it was purely for the sake of the pleasure received from that activity. Although the sensations received are physically less intense that method is still extremely popular, in part because of the additional variety of positions achievable.'

'Ah, of course. But it seems a little unfair.'

'In what way?'

'The male has two ways of receiving pleasure, orally and vaginally. The female only one.'

'Did I say there was no pleasure centre in our mouths?'

'Is there?'

'Indeed there is. Both it and the organ that is the equivalent of your females' vagina produce pleasure in much the same way as our skin. In simple terms, chemicals are released that trigger a pleasure response for our partner, the actual reaction produces the same response in ourselves. As I say, the process is virtually identical to what happens when we touch, except that both the reactions and responses produced by the vagina-like organ and the mouth, are much more powerful.'

'If that's so and your reactions are anything like those I felt when I stroked your skin, I'm surprised your species ever developed technologically. I would have thought they'd have spent most of their time simply lying around, both sexually and physically exhausted.'

My comment produced the whistling sound I recognised as the equivalent of laughter. 'I think there may be some difference in the strength of our responses, I guessed that from what I experienced when I touched your hair. Even though our chemistry is similar enough to be somewhat compatible, the neural network structure must be somewhat different. I can only think that for some reason a member of one species responds much strongly to one from the other than it does to one of its own.

But before we explore that further let me just complete what I was saying about our past.

Because viable male sperm were so few in number, and had become much less energetic, the females' ability to stimulate forceful ejaculation of the largest possible number was important. So, apart from the other arousal techniques the part of us that produces those chemicals in our mouth became much larger, providing a much increased surface area. That, and its other physical characteristics enable us to produce a response for both our partners and ourselves which is therefore very much more intense.'

'And which part is that?'

'The tongue.'

I'd had no reason to see her tongue of course, although I knew she had one because from time to time I had seen the movement of its tip.

'So, as you lick your partner's penis the chemicals are absorbed, bringing on a stronger ejaculation?'

'Yes, but the tongue does much more than just lick. As I said, the males produce relatively few sperm, so females with longer, more efficient tongues produced more chemicals, thus having a better chance of receiving a larger number, and were therefore more likely to reproduce.

Over time our tongues have become very long, extremely flexible and have developed a quite distinct musculature. Normally the bulk of it is coiled in a recess at the back of our throats, during sex it can be partially or fully extended, and it has become more than long enough to wind itself many times around even the largest penis.'

I tried to imagine what it would feel like to have a tongue coiled around my cock, I couldn't, but the mere attempt was exciting and I felt my body reacting strongly to the thought and images it produced.

'And just the chemical reaction is enough to give sexual pleasure?'

'Of course as in any sexual activity it is far better if the upper levels of the brain are also involved, but yes, it is possible to achieve physical satisfaction that way. In fact a rough translation of our term for these chemicals would be, 'elixir producing passion and ejaculation', but I think we should find a shorter one for use between you and I.'

I only had to think for a few moments before replying. 'How about 'joy-juice', or perhaps 'bliss-flow'?'

'I prefer the sound of 'bliss-flow' for some reason, but as I said before, your species are extremely quick-thinking.'

'Thank you, and what you have told me about yours is absolutely fascinating, I think your females will have our men forming queues.'

She gave another of her small musical laughs. 'And if the males are all similar to you our females will welcome them, with open mouths and extended tongues.'

*

Chapter 8

The Ultimate Climax

'So, are we going to take our research any further, purely in the interest of science of course?' I said.

'I think we should Jake, what about you?'

'I agree Peta, I definitely think we should. But unlike you, I have no easy way out of this thing, you'll have to give me a minute or two.' I said, standing up and starting to unzip my coverall.

'I have been wondering how long I would have to wait for you to do that.' she said, watching me closely.

'I'm afraid that what's underneath is nowhere near as spectacular as your skin Peta. Just a pinkish white, a small patch of residual hair, not really very much to look forward to at all.'

'Ah but that's how you see yourself, not how I will respond, and remember that although somewhat obstructed I did have a brief preview when you were dressing after taking your 'refresher'.

'True, I'll keep my fingers crossed that you are not disappointed by the reality.'

'Pardon?'

'Oh sorry, another turn of speech. It means I wish you good luck.' I replied, unfastening the last zip and starting to remove the coverall.

Underneath it I was wearing the usual body-stocking, which helped prevent the skin being chafed by the outer layers of protection. 'I'm not down to skin yet I'm afraid, one more layer to go.' I explained as I began to peel it off. 'But aren't I going to see more of you Peta?'

'Shortly, but I think other things first would be better, for both of us I hope.' she replied cryptically.

Although disappointed I accepted her judgement, then watched her reaction as I finished unpeeling the body-stocking.

Her face remained expressionless but once again I saw that strange shade-shift rippling through her eyes as I pulled it down over my body. 'Ah yes, that defined musculature, it's most attractive Jake, as is the colour, I assure you.' she said in a voice that was much softer than what I had heard until then.

As I lifted one leg to peel the stocking down off the other it hid my genitals from her. But I glanced down at myself, and was not too surprised to see that my cock, although nowhere near erect, was heading in that direction, already lengthening and fattening. Then when I transferred my weight to the other leg to completely free myself I heard Peta produce a sound I hadn't heard before, a sound the translator was apparently unable to cope with, and which I can only describe as a softly fluting trill.

'I must ask you Jake, are all men so, well so physically attractive?' she asked once the echo of the trill had faded.

'I am not so special Peta, perhaps a little above average in size and musculature, but there are many men who make me look like a very ordinary specimen.' I replied as I dropped the body-stocking down on top of the suit.

'I don't think I need to concern myself with those, what I see is more than sufficiently exciting for my taste. And our men will certainly have very strong competition if our races do begin to mingle. But tell me, does your penis stiffen at all?'

I couldn't suppress a muffled chuckle at her question. 'Yes Peta, it gets very stiff, and somewhat bigger.'

'Bigger? It gets bigger than that?' she replied with a distinct note of excited astonishment. 

Having her watching me so closely, and hearing that tone in her voice added to what I had already been starting to feel and my cock began to respond to that combination. And as fresh blood began to pulse down into it I again heard that fluting, trilling sound coming from Peta's throat.

'Please, come closer Jake. I may touch you?'

'In the cause of science, of course you may.' I said with a grin as I moved to stand in front of her.

Although I had seen them on the vid-screen, until that moment I had completely forgotten that Peta had six fingers, but as she lifted her hand I took in the detail of their structure and arrangement. As I had originally noticed, they were without nails, the ends slightly flatter, their shape more splayed than ours are. And each of the four central fingers appeared to have one, perhaps two additional joints, making them that much more flexible. But her thumb was smaller in proportion to them than a human one would be, and although still smaller again, the additional digit appeared to be more like a secondary thumb.

But I had only a few brief seconds to take all that in because within moments of the ends of her fingers touching me I felt the same burst of sensations I had experienced when I had stroked her arm. As it was my thigh her fingers were resting against, most of the effect of her touch centred in that area, and as she slid her hand higher I felt a sudden surge of blood coursing down into my cock.

So when she moved her hand still higher, curling the tips of her central fingers under my balls and gently supporting them while her two thumbs closed around the base of the shaft, it was as though someone had set off several emergency rockets at the one time.

I heard myself grunt as the shock-like thrills raced through my body and felt my cock literally leap to almost full size. And as it did that Peta emitted another of those fluting trills.

For a moment or two her hand trembled, as though she was unsure just what to do next, but then I felt her thumbs tighten their grip a little. She must have been able to feel the pulse of still more blood being pumped into it because she glanced up at me, and although I really had no way of interpreting the true meaning of what I saw there I could somehow tell from the changing colours in her eyes that her own reactions were just as strong as those she was giving me.

Looking back down again and whilst maintaining that first hand's loose but firm hold, she lifted the other, cradling the still rapidly engorging shaft on her palm, then lightly stroking the head with her primary thumb. And that time almost instantaneously, several more rockets exploded inside my head and my thigh and abdominal muscles suddenly flexed, requiring all my strength of will to hold myself still, to stop my hips from jerking forward.

The chemistry was so powerful that within seconds my cock was fully engorged, and its continuing effect so strong that each time her fingers or thumb made the slightest move shock-like waves surged up through my entire body.

She looked up and spoke, the translator giving her voice a nervous, somewhat quavering tone. 'I wouldn't have thought this possible Jake.' But of course I really didn't know whether she meant the strength and speed of my response, or the actual size of my cock. Or then perhaps she was talking about what she was feeling herself. So I said nothing, just stood there, my body shuddering as those waves of unbelievable pleasure continued flowing from her touch.

She looked down again, staring at my cock, and I saw the tip of her tongue appear, then move slowly back and forth across her mouth. Then, without looking up again she said. 'May I?'

Of course after what she had told me I knew roughly what she meant, but even though I thought I was prepared for the sight of her unusual tongue, I still got a shock when I actually saw it.

Her slightly parted lips poised for a moment above the tip of my cock and then her tongue began to unroll. It was ribbon-like, about two thirds the width of my tongue and perhaps half as thick, and as it started to coil itself around the head I saw that it glistened with a salivary coating that enabled it to slide effortlessly over my skin.

She let out more tongue, the whole length moving with an almost snake-like, flowing motion, the tip winding itself around and then pulling the rest purposefully down along the shaft. And as it moved I felt the first of many mind-blowing sensations as the loose folds of skin were tightened and tugged towards the base.

As the tip continued its descending spiral and still more tongue appeared the sensations caused by the feel of it working its way down around the length of my cock triggered more blood to be pumped up into it, quickly finishing off what her fingers had begun and I let out a muffled groan as I felt it surge up to full size.

I suppose that if I'd thought about it I'd have expected that once her tongue had coiled itself around the full length of the shaft that would be it. But no, the fleshy ribbon continued to unroll. The tip disappeared from sight for a moment as it followed the crease in my groin down beside my balls, then I felt it brushing past the back of the already swollen sac, pushing it forwards and, a second or so later appearing up from the other side. I watched as it slid across me, curled around and down again, then I felt it tightening slightly and realised that my cock and balls were being loosely gripped in a noose-like coil.




Sex in Sci-Fi Ch. 06



CHAPTER 6: NEITHER WITH A BANG, NOR A WHIMPER

As is always the case, various sections of the community clearly saw the danger early and did their best to warn the authorities and the people long before any official attempt was made to tackle the problem. And, as had always been true, by the time the governing bodies did stir, it was already too late.

Media researchers, in the course of preparing stories for that section of the community that still called-up public information services, variously traced the origins of the problem to; neurological research, computer technology or to social disruption - all dating from the second half of the twentieth century.

Learned professors, humanity guides, Teev stars, local dignitaries and assorted 'talking-heads' agreed, disagreed and produced pet theories - as they always had.

As usual, the truth fell somewhere in between all of the so-called facts.

But regardless of the date, source, cause or causes - the fact was quite simply that homo sapiens sapiens was becoming extinct. Neither with a bang nor a whimper - but with a silent scream, of ecstasy.

It had long been recognised that mankind's sex-drive was far stronger than and quite different from just about all other living creatures. Man (and woman) thought about, responded to and took part in sexual activities more frequently than was necessary for the survival of the species and more enthusiastically than was good for the planetary population.

Sex had been used overtly and covertly in every activity - politics, sport, commerce, religion - nothing had been free of the all-pervasive and ever powerful message about the difference between male and female. Moralities had come and gone - swinging from licentiousness to prudery. Diseases appeared and were in turn - feared, controlled and conquered. Specific acts were from time to time and from place to place, declared illegal and incurred penalties that varied even more widely than the acts themselves. 

What one society, at one time considered likeable, another considered laughable another debatable and yet another jailable. Perversion to one was normality to another. Yet still they did it. In private or in public, in pairs or in groups, with gaiety or dedication.

Levels of enjoyment and excitement varied dramatically, bliss for one was an everyday experience for many others and the pleasures themselves varied from one day to another; dependent on mood, circumstances and partner. But still most people, enjoyed most of their sex, most of the time - and as each succeeding generation practised their own particular sexual activity, most of them found it sufficiently enjoyable, most of the time, to keep on doing it.

Certainly there had been problems, for some enormous problems. Problems of non-erection, premature ejaculation, frigidity, obsession, fetishism, rape, incest - an ever expanding range of problems. But for every one with a specific problem, there were scores simply getting on with it.

Until!

The early models were of course crude and clumsy by comparison with what came later. Originally designed as a 'feely' attachment for Teev units they were really nothing more than mild electro-shock generators. Electrodes fitted to various parts of the body transmitted signals synchronised to the Teev or recorded programme and resulted in mild stimulation of muscles or nerve centres, providing a heightened sense of shock, fear, well-being or arousal.

It was not long before a more sophisticated but still essentially simple, cranial version was marketed. This not only reduced the tangle of connecting wires but also enabled a greater degree of precision in triggering the appropriate response.

Whilst there were at this time some murmurings of concern these came mainly from the religious fringe. As the population was used to hearing these describe every innovation, from dancing to space exploration as being 'works of the devil', little notice was taken, even by their followers. Several business leaders were heard to complain about a slight rise in absenteeism but their voices were overwhelmed by the manufacturers, distributors and advertisers of the product.

Sensex was marketed brilliantly. The virtues of an enhanced appreciation of Matisse and Mozart and the educational benefits to the young, were cleverly combined with the underlying promise of undreamed of delights of a baser kind. As virtually all major Teev stations aired at least one porno channel and recordings of all descriptions, to suit every conceivable taste were readily available, it was not long before the majority of homes acquired the latest technological wonder.

Next came an adapter box, enabling couples to share what had until then been primarily solitary pleasures. That gadget pushed the home ownership of Sensex from around sixty, to almost ninety percent virtually overnight. Then it was only a matter of months before stores began to stock and sell in growing numbers the adapters that accepted other adapters, enabling groups of any size to communally participate.

Still the marketers stressed the joys of artistic appreciation - schools were equipped at low cost, to improve the quality of teaching - hospitals, to speed the recovery of patients - various types of institutions, to calm or motivate the inmates.

Every few months, as was to be expected from smart marketers, enhanced models were released. Finer tuning, improved separation of the stimulator nodes, sharper holo-pix, clearer colours, better sound, better muscle response. A seemingly never-ending wave of inventiveness.

However, up to that point the Sensex had suffered from one limitation. It was of course necessary to be linked to both a power and a signal reception source, added to this was the fact that both the modulator and translator were complex and bulky, restricting all but the most adventurous of users to an indoor, structured use. So most users treated their Sensex much as the earlier viewers of TV had, certain programmes or recordings were watched by the family as a group, others were reserved for a later, more private use.

As a result the average family's use of Sensex as a part of their sexual activities was restricted and rationed more by circumstance than by choice. For the greatest percentage of time Sensex was in fact used just as the advertisers had said it would be - as an enhancer of the regular Teev shows.

Then came the new generation of Sensex. As different from the original as a visi-phone was to a message stick.

Truly portable; a pocket-sized pack provided power, Teev reception and recording player. Unobtrusive; gone were the cranial caps and wires, being replaced by a band containing the transmitter nodes, that simply fitted around the upper arm or leg. Vastly improved performance; response levels were lifted by a factor of six. And, almost more important than all of those refinements, with this model the holo-pix themselves could be viewed via a pair of tinted glasses, that were of course available in a wide variety of fashionable styles and colours.

Again, being excellent marketers, the new Sensex was priced at a level that discouraged most people from immediately buying, which made it all the more desirable for the majority to purchase one as soon as possible. But it was not too long before competitive models began to appear. Some with additional features, at a similar price, others with less expensive components, at large discounts. Then, in the anticipated second selling wave came the equipment necessary for multiple hook-up, for group use.

Within a year market penetration had achieved over ninety nine percent of homes in the industrialised world and in many parts, as large numbers of individuals purchased different models for different situations, personal ownership was well over one hundred percent.

The manufacturers and distributors quickly began to dump their older models into the third world countries, at virtually give-away prices. Then, as saturation levels were reached in their domestic markets, followed-up by providing new, even more compact models at lower prices.

Within five years of the introduction of Sensex there were few inhabitants of the planet that did not either own or at least have regular access to at least one model.

The first Sensex related suicide had occurred within a month of the very earliest unit coming on to the market. It appeared that death by a combination of dehydration and constant arousal was not particularly pleasant - at least so the medicos said. The media of course had a field day sensationalising the cases that followed in a geometric curve. But, as was predictable, after the first few weeks, those that chose to quit the world in that way were no longer of interest, except to those that found and had to clean up after them.

But, as the months turned into years several other effects of the growing use of Sensex began to be noticed by those concerned with such things. People stayed home more, ate out less frequently, bought fewer clothes, sporting equipment and a surprising variety of other goods and services. Sales of prepared foods had always shown a steady growth, they sky-rocketed. But liquor consumption came down, as did the sales of medications and mild drugs.

Whilst some products' sales rose, beds and bedding did very well for a while and there was quite a boost for a manufacturer of a version of a chaise-longue, most suffered either static or more frequently, negative growth. More importantly it was not a passing phase, in fact most industries found themselves in a rapidly steepening, downward slide.

As economies declined, shop and factory closures were followed by bankruptcies and growing unemployment. Since virtually all homes contained a Sensex the initial depression of the jobless was relieved in more ways than one and an ever growing number of both individuals and family groups chose the easy, happy and final way out of their difficulties.

The jobless were followed by the soon-to-jobless, the managers-with-nothing-to-manage, the friends-who-had-lost-friends, the shareholders-with-valueless-shares, in short, whole sections of the community.

Supplier countries, dependant on large, wealthy populations to purchase their crops and minerals found few buyers and began to go hungry. They too found larger numbers of drying, grinning corpses around the countryside. In some cases whole villages went in one, final group orgasm.

Many bodies tried to turn back the tide. Governments formed committees. Religious sects offered alternative paths. Sociologists talked, mainly to each other. Business leaders denigrated the attitude of the workers. But still people, in ever increasing numbers settled themselves comfortably, turned on their Sensex, hiked the response levels up to the maximum - and came - and came, as they went.